"Human" Safari: Russian Drones Target Ukrainian Medical Workers

Sun Sep 06 2026 04:22:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

When a paramedic ran in Kherson to aid a wounded woman, an FPV drone struck her ambulance and then chased her. Ukraine’s health system faces relentless drone attacks.

In August, Ukrainian paramedic Inna Lytvynenko described how a Russian FPV drone attacked her ambulance, then pursued her as she tried to escape across Kherson. Her testimony is one of many that show a growing trend of deliberate drone strikes on medical vehicles and facilities in Ukraine, accounting for 20 % of all attacks on health services. Doctors Without Borders says the raids are a “sustained feature” of the war, while the WHO reports over three thousand strikes since February 2022. The doubling‑tactics and “human safari” attacks threaten civilian life and undermine the Geneva Conventions’ protections for medical personnel.

"Human" Safari: Russian Drones Target Ukrainian Medical Workers

In mid‑July, Inna Lytvynenko— a paramedic in Ukraine’s frontline region of Kherson—ran to treat a woman wounded by a Russian drone. The ambulance she rode in was smashed by a flying‑eye (FPV) drone, and an hour later a second drone chased her into the streets. "If I stopped I would die," Lytvynenko says, describing her sprint toward police shelters as she tried to survive.

Lytvynenko’s experience is not isolated. According to the World Health Organization, 3,118 attacks on health facilities and vehicles have been recorded since Russia’s February 2022 invasion; a WHO specialist notes that this equates to roughly two strikes per day. Each month the number of attacks rises— 20 % in 2024 and 30 % in 2025, with a sharp uptick last year— underscoring a pattern that moves beyond single‑time offensives.

The attacks are increasingly systematic. Dubiously labeled a "double‑tap," Russia has targeted the same site twice within a short span to strike first responders arriving after an initial strike. While missiles and drones can be indiscriminate, FPV drones are equipped with live‑feed cameras that allow operators to aim deliberately. MSF’s Ukrainian coordinator, Robin Meldrum, argues that when an ambulance is first visibly marked as medical, pilots will choose to attack it on purpose.

The consequences are dire. Ukraine’s health services have been forced to withdraw from 80 villages near the frontline and are now avoiding operating within 30 km of the front line. As ambulances vanish from the roads, elderly patients in rural areas lose access to life‑saving medication and routine check‑ups, creating a slow death in the shadow of conflict.

Interior of an ambulance after a drone strike

President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the international community to pressure Russia to halt the deliberate hunting of civilians. Yet the Geneva Conventions that forbid attacks on medical objects remain unheeded. Against this backdrop, emergency workers like Lytvynenko run not just for patients, but for their own survival.