Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged international condemnation of an incident in which an alleged Russian military drone targeted a vegetable seller in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations that attacks by each country caused civilian deaths.
In an Aug. 4 post on X, Zelenskyy shared video of the incident, describing it as a “drone safari.” The video, released by Kherson’s regional military administration and national police, appears to show the vendor trying to flee the drone as it hovers above his van, follows him, then explodes.
“The world must see this,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, alongside the video. “It must see every piece of evidence that Russia has gone mad and that its soldiers take pleasure in killing and abusing civilians.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment about the Kherson drone incident, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Police in Kherson said the 52-year-old vendor, identified only as Yurii, survived with shrapnel injuries to his legs and back.
Zelenskyy said Russia must be made to “seriously think about peace rather than expanding the range of its drones.”
“Without pressure on Russia, the dismantling of its capacity for aggression, and real security guarantees, it is simply impossible to imagine the world being able to coexist with this evil,” he said.
Zelenskyy also said Russia’s aggression had to be stopped in Ukraine before it spread further. He suggested that the Baltic states, Moldova, Romania, Finland and the countries of the South Caucasus region “should work together to ensure real security guarantees and bring Russia’s war to an end.”
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not interested in negotiations with Zelenskyy and was intent on completing his war aims and seizing four Ukrainian regions, one of which is Kherson.
It was announced on Aug. 3 that Ukraine, which has four years’ experience of tackling drone attacks, has signed agreements with nine countries to send experts to its partner countries to assess their air defenses.
This photograph shows smoke rising from a fire following massive Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes in Kyiv on August 5, 2026. Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images
Drone Attack on Russian Beach Kills 7
Russia said that a Ukrainian drone strike on a crowded beach in the Black Sea resort of Arkhipo-Osipovka on Aug. 3 killed seven people, including four children.
Krasnodar regional authorities said 58 people had been injured in the attack.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said a Ukrainian drone attack on Aug. 4 killed five people and wounded 10. He said most of the damage was in the Novoselki industrial zone.
Russia’s biggest online retailer, Wildberries, said its warehouse, outside St. Petersburg, had also been attacked and set on fire, the latest in a series of attacks on the company.
Remains of the Wildberries warehouse that burned down after a recent Ukrainian drone attack in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the city of Elektrostal in the Moscow region, Russia, on July 23, 2026. Stringer/Russia
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said on Aug. 4 that 15 Wildberries warehouses had been attacked, 13 of which caught fire, in the last 18 days.
Wildberries confirmed its warehouse, outside St. Petersburg, had been attacked, and regional Gov. Vitaly Korolyov said a wall of another of their properties had been damaged by drone debris in the village of Emmaus, located between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Overnight into Aug. 5, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was hit by Russian missiles and drones, killing at least 17 people and injuring 44 others, Zelenskyy announced on Telegram.
A Ukrainian firefighter works to put out a fire following massive Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes in Kyiv on August 5, 2026. Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images
He said Russia sent 115 drones and fired 24 ballistic missiles, including hypersonic Zircons or supersonic Oniks.
“Ballistic interceptors are something that could save the lives of those who died today,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “It is very important that partners realize that delays in their delivery or unwillingness to transfer anti-ballistics leads to such terrible victims and destruction.”
Ukraine has a limited stockpile of interceptor missiles for the U.S.-manufactured Patriot system, which is capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, on Aug. 4 urged both countries to do their utmost to protect children, citing deaths in Russia’s Krasnodar and Belgorod regions, as well as in Ukraine’s Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
“UNICEF again calls on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law – including the protection of children and civilian infrastructure,” UNICEF said in a statement. “Attacks that kill and injure children must stop.”
On July 8, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would grant Ukraine a license to produce its own supply of Patriot air defense systems.
On July 3o, Trump told the Financial Times he was “not sure” whether he would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles to take on the Russians.
“It’s a very extraordinary weapon, and … we have to be a little bit careful of who we license to. We don’t really license equipment,” Trump said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
