Russia spreads fear with 'safari' attacks on civilians

When two Russian bombs hit the shop of Katerina Lahuta, a seafood shop owner in Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, last month, they shattered the last sense of security the forty-one-year-old entrepreneur had.

Since the first weeks of the 2022 invasion, Russian forces have been south of Zaporozhye, an important industrial city with a population of about 700.000, under constant fire from missiles and drones, Reuters reports.

But a new wave of attacks has made life even more dangerous for residents. It is part of an increasingly intense Russian air campaign against Ukrainian cities, while Russian forces on the frontline are making slow and limited progress.

“Of course, six months ago it was scary and there were attacks, but it wasn't like this,” Lahuta said. “Now it's a real 'safari.'”

Ukrainians have adopted the term “safari” to describe drones that “hunt” for civilians or vehicles on the streets, something that residents of Kherson, a small city in the south of the country located on the front line, have long endured.

Reuters journalists who visited Katerina Lahuta's shop had to seek cover when they heard the characteristic buzzing of a drone equipped with explosives.

The goal is to cause panic.

Russia denies that it is deliberately targeting civilians in the war, which began with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

But standing amid the charred remains of the fish processing plant that supplied her shops, Katerina Lahuta said Russian attacks had driven away customers and made long-term planning almost impossible, while the labor shortage was exacerbated by the need for soldiers.

"Every day seems like some kind of battle."

Officials say Russia is seeking to cause panic among the population, as well as damage infrastructure, by increasing the frequency of attacks across the city and using drones operated from a pilot's perspective (FPV) for the first time, as well as increasingly destructive guided aerial bombs.

Zaporozhye is the administrative center of one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia considers part of its territory, although it controls only about three-quarters of the area.

Russian ground forces have failed to advance along a narrow corridor south of the city, where the Ukrainian army has been putting up strong resistance in recent months.

However, from there, Russian FPV drones are attacking groups of civilians, vehicles and public transport, especially in the southern parts of the city, said Governor Ivan Fedorov.

"The enemy's priority is to create as much pressure as possible on the civilian population," he said during an interview in an underground school built to double as a bomb shelter.

FPV drones have been further improved to increase their range, while wing-guided aerial bombs, like the ones that hit Katerina Lahuta's office building, cannot be intercepted without more modern air defense systems.

Buses targeted by drones

In central Zaporozhye, cafes and streams of people going to work and returning home give the impression of normal life, despite frequent air quality warnings. Yet even on Friday nights, the city seems unusually quiet.

In the neighborhood where the large engine manufacturer "Motor Sich" is located, many business and residential buildings bear the scars of multiple bombings.

In the southern part of the city, in the Kosmos neighborhood, protective nets are being installed above the roads to protect residents from FPV drones, which have been hitting vehicle windshields and roofs in recent weeks.

Two private bus drivers, who operate on a route through the Kosmos neighborhood, said that the increase in the number of attacks has caused fear among drivers and passengers.

“Those nets won't protect you from larger aircraft,” said one of the drivers, who did not want to be identified.

According to Governor Fedorov, Ukrainian air defenses shoot down more than 95 percent of enemy FPV drones. However, during the most difficult days, which occur several times a month, up to ten drones manage to get through the defenses and cause damage or injure people.

The director of the city's transport company, Vladimir Sukhachev, said that the possibility of providing bus drivers with drone-detection monitors is currently being examined, as well as testing new bulletproof, impact-resistant glass.

Since the beginning of the year, 12 city buses and trams have been damaged, either in attacks by FPV drones or due to explosions of more powerful missiles, but, as Sukhachev stated, there are no plans to suspend or reduce traffic.

Anja Sivova, a 34-year-old seamstress whose husband is fighting at the front, was returning home to the southern part of the city last month when she saw an FPV drone crash into a nearby bus.

"Maybe my guardian angel is watching over me," she said with a smile.

Anya Sivova, who sends her six-year-old daughter to an underground kindergarten, says she and her child have learned to adapt to the dangers of everyday life.

“It sounds terrible, but we are used to this kind of life,” she said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have another one for now.”

Russia is employing similar tactics in other cities near the front line, such as Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, where FPV drone attacks have become “one of the main means of terror,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Sunday.