This publication was produced with the financial support of the Czech organization People in Need, within the framework of the SOS Ukraine initiative, and supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Foundations. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the position of People in Need or the Open Society Foundations.

Initial summary

Location of incident: Kherson, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine
Sites affected: four public buses in Kherson and suburbs
Dates of attacks: 01 December 2024, 06 January 2025, 02 March 2025, 09 August 2025
Times of attacks (local times): approx. 08:15, 17:00, 12:20, approx. 08:00
Casualties: 10 people killed; 43-47 people injured
Reported damage: all four buses damaged
Type of attack/munitions likely used: drone-dropped munitions, FPV drones

Introduction

Civilians in Kherson and its suburbs have become targets for Russian drone operators, leading to daily deaths and injuries. While artillery barrages and airstrikes on civilian areas continue to be part of Russia’s playbook since the start of conflict, the Russian armed forces, which control the opposite side of the Dnipro River, have increasingly deployed a new tactic on an unprecedented scale: the use of short-range drones to drop explosive devices onto civilians. These attacks, which occur many times per day, have ‘terrorized’ civilians in Kherson, with only the most unfavorable weather for drone flights bringing reprieve.

In the final months of 2024, Russian forces began to target public transport in Kherson, predominantly buses. At least 31 attacks on public transport vehicles and stops were identified by Ukrainian Archive across the country in the time period from 01 December 2024 to 31 December 2025. According to open-source information analyzed by Ukrainian Archive, these attacks reportedly killed 37 people and injured 131 in Ukraine. Of these casualties, 18 fatalities and 67 injuries occurred in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Kherson Oblast, making up just under half of all fatalities, and over half of the injuries.

*Injuries and fatalities from UAV strikes on public transport by oblast. Created on Microsoft Office Suite, using data collected by Ukrainian Archive.*

*Total casualties from UAV strikes on public transport by oblast. Created on Microsoft Office Suite, using data collected by Ukrainian Archive.*

These drone attacks typically cause a high number of casualties, because passengers in buses are concentrated in a small area. All of the 22 attacks recorded in Kherson occurred in what Russian forces refer to as the ‘red zone’, a strip of land along the western side of the Dnipro River where Russian forces reportedly target civilians indiscriminately. The targeting of civilians by any party to an armed conflict could be a violation of international humanitarian law, specifically Additional Protocol I; Article 51 to the Geneva Conventions (1977). A report by OHCHR’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian armed forces’ drone attacks in Kherson amount to “crimes against humanity of murder and the war crimes of attacking civilians.”

It should be noted that Ukrainian forces are likely responsible for some incidents leading to civilian casualties in Russian-controlled areas of Kherson Oblast, however such incidents are reported to be significantly less commonplace. Over the same period of time, from 01 December 2024 - 31 December 2025, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson Oblast Vladimir Saldo reported just two such attacks against public transport, leading to 4 deaths and 5 injuries.

Attacking easily identifiable civilian buses using high precision weapons during regular service hours would appear to be an intentional act, with widespread civilian harm in Kherson as an inevitable outcome. Ukrainian Archive identified four of the most severe attacks in the Kherson Oblast, which together caused at least 53 casualties, among them 10 killed. 43-47 people were injured; the exact number could not be identified due to discrepancies between sources. This investigation analyzes the attacks, and examines why they are happening, and who is responsible.

Methodology

This investigation focused on four incidents which occurred from December 2024 up to the writing of this investigation in December 2025. The time period selected reflects the start of a considerable increase in drone attacks against public transport in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Kherson Oblast. The four incidents detailed in this report were selected based on evidence of a drone strike having taken place, and having the highest casualty counts among similar incidents in Kherson Oblast over the selected period of time.

Each incident was investigated using open-source information from Telegram, YouTube, X, Ukrainian and international media, official government statements, and victim obituaries as well as satellite imagery accessed via Google Earth Pro. The report uses 158 sources. The investigation gathered information on the location, time, damage, victims, and possible perpetrators of the incidents. Visual confirmation of the described events was provided whenever possible, with a special effort made to label all graphic content as such. No graphic content is present in the body of this report, but unredacted versions are available on request.

Data ethics

Ukrainian Archive strives to incorporate a risk minimisation ethical framework into their processes, which seeks to avoid causing any harm to victims and witnesses of a given incident. Harm, as defined in the Berkeley Protocol, includes “physical or mental damage or injury to assets or the destruction thereof. It may involve digital, financial, legal, physical, psychosocial or reputational harm.” Due to the repeated targeting of civilian facilities and persons since 2014, particularly by Russian-backed “Donetsk/Luhansk People's Republics” “people’s militias” and by Russian Federation armed forces, additional precautions and ethical issues were taken into consideration during the drafting of this investigation.

Ukrainian Archive supports accountability for international crimes as one of the four pillars of transitional justice without which sustainable peace is practically impossible to achieve. In order to help establish the authenticity of digital content that could be used as potential evidence, rigorous verification steps, guided by the Berkeley Protocol, were taken to authenticate the findings of this investigation.

Background on the affected area

Kherson is a major city in the south of Ukraine and is the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. The city had a prewar population of approximately 275,000. The city became an important industrial hub under Soviet rule, and continued to be a major manufacturing centre in Ukraine. The dominant industries in Kherson are shipbuilding and manufacturing. The Port of Kherson was also an important international trade hub, connecting Ukraine to global trade routes via the Black Sea. The city is situated on the west bank of the Dnipro River, directly across from Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory.

*Map of southern Ukraine showing location of Kherson Oblast in Ukraine (orange),* *map* *created by FPRI (2022), Kherson city marked with yellow circle by Ukrainian Archive, image captured on 07 January 2026.*

The Kherson Oblast borders Crimea, which has been occupied by the Russian Federation since March 2014. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 it was able to capture large parts of the Kherson Oblast which lay east of the Dnipro River. Russian forces captured two key bridges connecting Kherson city with the eastern side of the Dnipro River, first the Nova Kakhovka dam and bridge on the first day of the invasion, and then the Antonivka Bridge on 25 February. The city itself was encircled by Russian forces on 28 February. On 02 March the then-mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhayev, formally surrendered the city to the Russian armed forces. Having established administrative control there, the Russian authorities targeted and prosecuted anyone perceived to be loyal to Ukraine.

Russia’s armed forces experienced defeats and lost ground throughout 2022, culminating with a forced retreat from Kherson city, as well as all other parts of the Kherson Oblast west of the Dnipro River by 11 November 2022. However, the land just across the Dnipro River from Kherson was still under Russian control. Russian forces commenced bombardment of Kherson almost immediately after retreating from the city, and continued until the time of writing of this report. In 2024 a new method of bombardment emerged: using small drones to drop explosives directly onto their targets, oftentimes civilians. Pro-Russian actors commonly call the areas where this occurs, the “red zones.”

A *map* *of the “red zones” as designated by the Russian side via the Telegram Channel От Мариуполя до Карпат, Kherson city marked by Ukrainian Archive, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

Incident 1:

Attack on a bus likely using a Drone-Dropped Munition (DDM) on 01 December 2024 (3 killed, 10 or 11 injured)

What happened and when?

Summary of online reporting

This incident was first reported by Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Administration. A local Telegram channel posted an image of a yellow public bus with a charred hole in the roof. The Kherson Region Prosecutor’s Office published a partially censored photo showing damage and blood inside a bus. The location of the hole in the roof of the bus is consistent with the earlier photo posted on Telegram. The Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne reported on the attack and its aftermath on December 01, restating earlier comments by Kherson Oblast officials. Ukrainian news channel ICTV also reported on the attack.

Geolocation

Footage of the attack or the scene of the attack and its immediate aftermath were not located. All images of the bus were captured at a nearby hospital, where the driver drove the bus with its injured passengers after the strike. However, Ukrainian Archive was able to identify the approximate area of the strike based on reports, the route of the bus, and the hospital to which the bus was driven. The bus was serving route 5, as is marked in the bus windshield.

*Bus windshield showing route number 5, original photo* *posted* *with green rectangle marker and blurred license plate by Kherson: Non Fake Telegram channel, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

The map of route 5 is available on Wikiroutes. Local reporting indicates that the incident occurred near Chornovola Square, and Kindiyka, in the easternmost part of the route.

*Map of route 5,* *created* *by Wikiroutes, cardinal direction marker added by Ukrainian Archive, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

*Closeup of* *route 5* *area of interest on Wikiroutes map. Kindiyka, Chornovola Square, and cardinal direction labels added by Ukrainian Archive, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

The hospital to which the bus was driven after the attack was identified using the name of one of the surgeons who worked there. In 2023 this doctor had been awarded state honors, and Ukrinform identified his place of work as the O.S. Luchanskyi Kherson City Clinical Hospital. This hospital is located in the Dniprovskyi District of the city which is situated along route 5, under 3 km from the approximate location of the attack.

*Location of hospital where casualties were brought. Map* *created* *by Wikiroutes; city hospital, approximate incident location, and cardinal direction labels added by Ukrainian Archive, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

Previously publicly available imagery of the hospital from before the war matches images taken of the bus once it reached the hospital. There are several distinctive markers that match, the first of which is the type of brick used. Both sets of images show beige bricks with grey mortar around a white entryway. The bricks are arranged in a pattern where alternate rows are composed of long and short sides of the brick. The letters over the entryway have been removed or knocked off in the post-incident image, but their outline is still visible. The windows, although boarded up in the post-incident images, are located in the same place, notably above the grey doors.

*Prewar* *image* *of hospital from the Kherson Oblast government (left); post-incident* *photo* *of bus from Kherson: Non Fake, watermark and green rectangle added by Kherson: Non Fake, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

*Sign which says Emergency Room in prewar* *image* *of hospital from the Kherson Oblast government (left); outline of letters still visible in post-incident* *photo* *of bus from Kherson: Non Fake, watermark and green rectangle added by Kherson: Non Fake; brick pattern and windows locations match in both images, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

Chronolocation

The earliest identified report of the incident was made by Oleksandr Prokudin on his official Telegram channel on 01 December 2024 at 09:39 local time. He stated that “At approximately 8:15 Russian forces attacked public transport in the Dniprovskyi District using a drone.” Later reports from local Telegram channels, Suspilne, and ICTV (quoting Prokudin) also reported the incident as occurring at approximately 08:15 local time. The earliest visual confirmation of the incident was posted at almost the same time as Prokudin’s statement, by the Khuyovyi Kherson Telegram channel at 09:40 local time.

*Earliest* *image* *of damaged bus, posted by Khuyovyi Kherson on Telegram, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

Based on the reports and first visual confirmation, the incident occurred that morning before 09:39.

Damage

Images of the bus following the attack show a hole in the roof with charring on the sides, consistent with exposure to high temperature. The inside of the bus shows damage consistent with shrapnel, concentrated near the hole in the roof. The windows of the bus are broken.

*Images* *of bus after the incident, posted by Kherson: Non Fake on Telegram. Red markings added by Kherson: Non Fake, last accessed 07 January 2026.*

Based on these images, it is clear that the bus was damaged. No images, footage, or reports of damage outside of the bus were located.

Munitions used

Based on the images of the damage caused to the bus and statements made by officials, the attack was likely carried out via a short-range drone, using a drone-dropped munition (DDM). A DDM is delivered via a small commercial or purpose-built drone. A drone may carry one or several munitions, which are either improvised, or adapted from preexisting munitions, such as the VOG-17 30-mm grenade, originally manufactured for use in automatic grenade launchers. Such attacks are common in and around Kherson, with hundreds recorded each month. A video showing such an attack on a similar bus in Kherson on 19 November 2024, shared on Telegram by pro-Kremlin channels, shows damage to the bus similar to that in the 01 December incident.

A popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Osvedomitell_Alex wrote that the bus was being used to transport ammunition, including a homemade explosive device which detonated accidentally.

Victims of the attack

According to the chief of surgery at the O.S. Luchanskyi Kherson City Clinical Hospital, three people were killed in the incident, while ten others were injured out of a total of 15 occupants on the bus at the time of the strike. Head of Kherson Regional Administration Oleksandr Prokudin stated that eight people were injured.

One of those killed was a prominent local humanitarian volunteer Rymma Baranenko. According to her obituary, she was on her way to church, which she attended regularly; the attack happened shortly after she boarded the bus. She was 41 years old at the time of her death. The pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Osvedomitell_Alex made a post after the attack, in which he accused Baranenko of having gathered intelligence on Russian forces occupying Kherson, and rejoiced at her death. The post was made as a follow-up to an earlier claim that the explosion was the result of a bomb which was carried by a female passenger, implying that Baranenko was herself responsible for the incident. No evidence to support the channel’s claims was provided or identified in subsequent searches.

Of the injured, three were transferred to a specialist clinic due to head trauma. Five of the seven victims who stayed at the hospital had suffered serious injuries and had to undergo emergency surgery. According to the chief of surgery, most of the injured suffered shrapnel and blast injuries to their upper body. Prokudin identified two injured people as a 56-year-old woman with shrapnel injuries to her head and limbs, and a 70-year-old woman with a broken leg.

Incident 2:

Attack on a bus reportedly using a DDM on 06 January 2025 (2 killed, 8 injured)