Ukraine destroys Russian drone unit after Kherson infant killed, child 'should never have been a target,' governor says
Ukrainian soldiers successfully destroyed a crew of Russian drone operators with FPV drones, those directly involved in the fatal attack on a child in Kherson Oblast on July 9, Ukraine's General Staff reported on July 12.
The attack which struck the village of Pravdyne in Kherson Oblast killed a one-year-old boy named Dmytro and injured his grandmother. The strike was carried out by a Russian kamikaze drone of the Molniya type, which directly hit the courtyard of a residential building.
The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and its surrounding region has frequently come under Russian fire since Ukrainian forces liberated the city from occupation in November 2022. Russian troops continue to routinely attack the area with artillery and drones from across the Dnipro River.
Following the attack, intelligence from the Defense Forces of Ukraine established that the drone had been launched from the occupied city of Hola Prystan.
During a subsequent operation, the Ukrainian military identified the Russian drone operating crew's precise location: a five-story non-residential building situated in the center of Hola Prystan. Intelligence determined that the drones had been launched from within this structure.
The Ukrainian military deployed five FPV drones, four of which precisely impacted the target, according to the General Staff. Post-operation monitoring has revealed no further drone launches originating from the facility.
Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin responded to the operation on July 12: "Dmytro should never have been a target. I thank our soldiers for their just retribution. No occupier who brought death and destruction to our land will escape punishment."
A May report by the United Nation's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity through drone attacks in Kherson Oblast.
The commission found these attacks, which began in July 2024, deliberately targeted civilians in a widespread and systematic manner, part of a coordinated state policy to terrorize and forcibly depopulate the area.
These findings, based on extensive evidence, highlighted that nearly 150 civilians, including children, have been killed and hundreds wounded in strikes on Kherson city and 16 surrounding localities, with protected targets like ambulances also hit.
"The recurrent drone attacks, the widely disseminated videos showing them, and numerous posts explicitly exhorting the population to leave suggest a coordinated state policy, on the part of the Russian authorities, to force the population of Kherson Province to leave the area," the report said.
