Russia Is Hunting Civilians in Kramatorsk

Kramatorsk is not falling in a single assault. It is being strangled. Russian forces are using first person view (FPV) drones to hunt people in streets and courtyards, dropping guided glide bombs on apartment blocks, and striking vehicles that carry the markings of humanitarian work. This is not collateral damage. It is a method.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. You do not “accidentally” fly a first-person drone into a vehicle painted with humanitarian markings. You do not accidentally hit a civilian standing in a courtyard when the pilot is purposefully watching and maneuvering a drone towards an innocent victim. Kramatorsk, like Kherson, is being hunted by drone safaris. Brave humanitarians will still go in and evacuate the elderly, deliver heat and pull the injured out of the rubble, all the while being hunted by soulless drone operators. These are a war crime in plain sight. Document it. Name it. Stop pretending this is just the fog of war. Drones that see the victim before they kill FPV drones, including fiber-optic models largely immune to jamming, now operate inside Kramatorsk itself, well behind the line that used to define the “front.” Operators fly them in real time; they see an elderly woman; they choose to kill. Publicly reported incidents this year include: • June 6, 2026 – a civilian man killed in a residential area. Ukrainian authorities stated the operator could see the target before impact. • Sept. 4, 2026 – two civilian cars struck by FPV drones in the city; fires started beside homes. Other Topics of Interest EU Clears €3.2B Patriot Purchase for Ukraine Under €90B Loan The move exempts Ukraine from EU procurement rules as Kyiv seeks more Patriot interceptors amid intensified Russian missile and drone attacks. • Repeated strikes on parked cars, public transport and anyone moving in the open. “Waiter Drones” are left on rooftops overnight and used at first light to attack the unsuspecting. Ukraine has documented more than 11,000 Russian FPV attacks on civilians nationwide, including double-tap strikes that hit the same site after medics and firefighters arrive. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has already classified the systematic FPV targeting of civilians in Kherson Oblast – known predatorily as “Drone Safaris” – as crimes against humanity. The same pattern is now being recorded across the Donetsk region, including Kramatorsk. Aftermath of evacuation vehicle destroyed by a drone near Kramatorsk. (Video courtesy Kiwi K.A.R.E) Glide bombs on homes Guided aerial bombs – FAB-250s fitted with UMPK kits – are cheap, hard to stop, and used against housing as well as military positions. • Sept. 9, 2026 – five glide bombs were dropped on Kramatorsk, wounding four civilians (women aged 59, 70 and 74; a man aged 72), damaging 27 private homes and a car. • Late August – some nine glide bombs hit apartment blocks in Kramatorsk with dozens wounded, including an infant. • Bridges and crossings have been struck as a warning that the way out can be impeded and ultimately closed. These strikes sit inside a wider campaign of Shahed-type drones and missiles against Ukraine. Kramatorsk’s daily reality, however, is closer and more personal: an FPV drone patrolling a courtyard; a glide bomb hitting a block of flats; roads that are no longer safe to drive. Targeting people who come to help The most damning evidence is the targeting of marked civilian and humanitarian vehicles whose purpose is visible from the air. To date, the “Road-of-Life” program, which falls under the umbrella of Kiwi K.A.R.E (Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation) charitable trust, has come under enemy fire 11 times with five vehicles completely destroyed: two ambulances, one armored ambulance, and two passenger vehicles. Fortunately, there have been no fatalities however several volunteers have been injured with one person remaining in hospital. • June 1, 2026 – FPV strike on a clearly marked Civil Protection Department vehicle of the Kramatorsk City Council injuring one official. The city’s military administration called it deliberate as the markings were clearly visible; civilian cars stood nearby. • Sept. 5, 2026 – a volunteer “Road-of-Life” vehicle was destroyed by a drone attack in Kramatorsk while being loaded for evacuation and aid work. • Sept. 7-8 – three more “Road-of-Life” vehicles were attacked and destroyed, including an armored ambulance, seriously injuring an evacuation team member who was hospitalized. • Numerous other missions in the Donetsk-Kharkiv belt has logged well over 100 attacks on staff, vehicles, offices and warehouses. It is for this reason that humanitarian operations in and around Kramatorsk have become extraordinarily hard: driving under drone nets, detectors are a must in vehicles, teams aborting pickups when a drone threat represents clear and present danger. Evacuations do still happen albeit with reduced frequency, at a slower pace, and with the recognition of significantly heightened danger. Every kilometer is a calculation. International humanitarian law requires parties to distinguish civilians from combatants and to spare those who bring aid and conduct evacuations. Russia is doing the opposite – they use attacks on humanitarians as a method of warfare. A city being emptied on purpose Kramatorsk still stands. Ukrainian forces still hold it and will for the foreseeable future. But life is leaving. Cafés that were full a year ago are quiet. Supermarket shelves are empty. People stay indoors except for essential movement. Police and local authorities have said it is time for remaining civilians to leave. Tens of thousands have already been displaced from the Kramatorsk district this year. The method is familiar: isolate the city with drones and bombs, punish movement, hit the rescuers, and wait for the population to drain away. Van destroyed by a drone near Kramatorsk (Photo courtesy Kiwi K.A.R.E) This is a war crime pattern – not an accident Kiwi K.A.R.E calls these acts what they are: • Willful killing and targeting of civilians. • Attacks on civilian objects and housing. • Attacks on humanitarian and civil-protection personnel and vehicles displaying distinctive signs. • Terror against a civilian population to force displacement. These are prohibited under the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law. They are being documented, daily, by Ukrainian prosecutors, city authorities, emergency services and independent journalists. The operators who fly a drone into a marked aid vehicle, and those who order the method, must be named and held to account. What we ask • Governments and media: treat FPV hunting of civilians and strikes on marked humanitarian vehicles as the war crimes they are – not as “battlefield friction.” • Donors and partners: frontline aid in Sumy, Donetsk and Kherson is still possible, but only with the equipment, protection and funding levels that match the threat. Well-marked humanitarian vehicles are being destroyed. Replacing them is now a matter of life and death. • New Zealand and allied governments: sustain political, military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. Isolation of cities like Kramatorsk is a strategy. Silence assists it. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.