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On the night of 2 June, more than 120 Ukrainian drones carried out the largest strike on Russian-occupied territories since 2022, targeting military infrastructure in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, according to Petro Andryushchenko, Head of the Center for the Study of Occupation of Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones hit ammunition depots and destroyed substations supplying power to Russian military facilities. Up to 44 Russian military sites, bases, and storage facilities were damaged. The attack caused widespread blackouts across occupied Zaporizhia and parts of Kherson, and postponed the reconnection to the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant by at least a month, significantly disrupting Russian logistics and complicating offensive operations in the south.
In response, Russian forces launched strikes not on military positions, but on civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian-held Kherson.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson, said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “closely monitoring the situation” as Russian troops fired guided aerial bombs, FPV drones, tanks, and artillery at Kherson’s city center. Grocery stores, the central post office, residential buildings, and administrative offices were destroyed
While Ukraine targeted military infrastructure, Russia escalated deliberate attacks on civilians, under direct Presidential oversight. Putin praised “the effective actions” of the Russian military, saying they made it possible “to reduce the possible consequences.”
Under international humanitarian law, political and military leaders may be held criminally responsible for war crimes if they knew or should have known such crimes were being committed and failed to prevent or punish them.
How Ukraine Used Cheap Drones and a Lot of Ingenuity to Strike a Major Blow Against Russia
“I spent most of the early hours of Saturday in my hallway feeling the walls shake as the ballistic missiles exploded”, Chris York reports from Kyiv
Combined Arms Attack on Kherson City Centre
On the evening of 4 June, a major grocery store was damaged and the city’s central post office was destroyed by fire during a round of artillery shelling. At 05:20 on 5 June, Russian forces struck again. Within fifteen minutes, four guided aerial bombs (KABs) hit the city center.
“The whole city woke up, the beds jumped up in the air,” said Victoria, a business owner, in an interview with Byline Times. Her restaurant was hit by a heavy shock wave that damaged the most iconic building on Freedom Square.
The Kherson Regional State Administration building had been heavily damaged in previous strikes before Kherson was liberated in November 2022, and had remained vacant ever since. It became symbolic after mass protests against Russian occupation took place in Freedom Square in March 2022, and again during celebrations of the city’s liberation in November 2022.
A Russian military-affiliated Telegram channel claimed the strikes were carried out by Russian aviation using FAB-500 bombs. Shortly afterwards, Russian tanks and artillery shelled the area, followed by FPV drone attacks on cars and pedestrians.
Later in the day, at approximately 15:30, a second airstrike targeted the Kherson Regional State Administration building, this time completely destroying it. Russian sources stated that an FAB-1500 aerial bomb was used. No military personnel were present, but several local journalists were reporting from the site.
Oleksandr Andrushchenko, a photographer for local news outlet V Hory, had just finished filming and was waiting at a bus stop about five minutes’ walk from Freedom Square when the second bomb struck. He rushed back to find the building in ruins. Only eighteen minutes had passed between the two photographs he took—before and after the strike.
“Freedom Square in Kherson was once a place of meetings, celebrations, and events in the city. Music, concerts, fairs, people’s voices, and children’s laughter were heard here. Now there is silence, anxiety, and the echoes of explosions,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Preliminary reports confirmed three civilians were injured. The Kherson Military Administration reported damage to three educational institutions, a medical facility, several administrative buildings, and at least five residential apartment blocks. Several civilian vehicles were hit by FPV drones and burned.
Drone Strikes Classified as War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine and Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released findings classifying Russian drone attacks on civilian targets in Kherson as war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The reports concluded that the drone strikes violated international humanitarian law prohibitions against indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.Both organisations stated that the attacks form part of a widespread, state-directed campaign to terrorise the civilian population and forcibly displace residents of Kherson. Such actions, if proven, may constitute crimes against humanity under the international law.
A pro-Russian Telegram channel, “Mariupol to Carpathians,” praised the strikes on Kherson’s city centre and military administration as the “excellent work of reconnaissance and aviation,” and admitted the Russian military are engaged in “hunting” – writing that forces were “waiting for the upcoming hunt for the enemy in this location.”
The channel continued to state that any movement of vehicles or civilian presence near critical infrastructure would be treated as a legitimate target, urging residents to “leave the area if possible.”
UN Confirms Russian Drone Attacks on Kherson are Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes
Zarina Zabrisky, who first exposed the “human safari” in Kherson for Byline Times in July 2024, reports on the UN’s historic confirmation that Russia deliberately targeted civilians in a campaign of terror.
The UN and HRW concluded that such public threats contribute to forced displacement and may amount to crimes against humanity. Such warnings are unlawful, according to the HRW report, as civilians remain fully protected from attack, and attacking forces cannot designate areas “civilian-free zones”.
Since its liberation in November 2022, Kherson has come under daily fire from across the Dnipro River, with Russian forces employing artillery, air-dropped bombs, and FPV drones.
Ukrainian authorities report that Russia is pursuing this strategy of making the region uninhabitable, with systematic attacks on utilities, healthcare, education, and public infrastructure.
Threats Against Journalists and First Responders
The same Telegram channel posted a direct warning to first responders and journalists: “We are expecting the press and evacuation teams… We warn the special services that will be involved in eliminating the consequences. You are guaranteed to be a priority target. Guaranteed.” Under international humanitarian law, the deliberate targeting of medical personnel, emergency services, and journalists not directly participating in hostilities is prohibited and constitutes a war crime.
“Kherson. The building of the regional state administration. Russian forces have completely destroyed it. Two strikes with aerial bombs. Deliberate strikes, not accidental. No military sense whatsoever. They are openly destroying life. Absolutely deranged creatures,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Force is needed to make them stop destroying and killing. Everyone in the world clearly sees who exactly has such force, yet still isn’t using it for the sake of peace. Unfortunately, isn’t using it. I thank everyone in the world who is helping change that and bring real security closer for our people.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not just aware of the strikes on Kherson—he is openly supervising them. Under international law, that makes him liable. As evidence of state-directed attacks on civilians mounts, so does the legal case against him.