Zaporozhye, where over 700,000 people lived before the full-scale Russian invasion, is located in southeastern Ukraine, directly on the banks of the Dnieper River. Since the start of its full-scale attack on the country in February 2022, the Russian army has rapidly advanced from the south to just outside the city, but then stalled. For more than four years, the front line here has been almost unchanged. And yet, for several weeks now, the terror against the civilian population of Zaporizhia has been increasing significantly, German public broadcaster ARD reported.
Targeted attacks on civilians
"Now these FPV drones have also appeared, which hit their targets precisely and deliberately", says 53-year-old Inna Krasnich, who came for a therapy session in the city center. There are still no such drones in her neighborhood, but in the southern regions they appear daily.
FPV stands for First Person View - cheap, small drones that are controlled directly by a pilot. On his screen, he sees exactly what the drone's camera sees.
In Ukraine, they believe that Russian drone pilots (FPV) are deliberately persecuting civilians. Photos from Zaporizhia and its surroundings over the past three to four weeks confirm this. Destroyed bus stops, taxis, kiosks - and again and again black bags with bodies.
Photos that Ukraine also knows from another city - Kherson, even further south, which Russia has been terrorizing for years with FPV drones. There, attacks on pedestrians and cyclists are constantly being carried out. In Ukraine, a cynical term has even been adopted for this - "human safari".
Is the same fate awaiting the much larger city of Zaporozhye? "We are trying to prevent this. But it is possible", 34-year-old Andriy tells the ARD team. He is the commander of a drone counter-unit that is supposed to protect part of the airspace over Zaporozhye within a radius of ten kilometers.
In the unit's bunker, located at the end of an exit highway, Andriy watches the monitor with tension. A red arrow has appeared there – it symbolizes an approaching enemy drone. In Kherson, Russian drone pilots easily manage to reach the city. There, the Dnieper River forms the front line, and it is only a few kilometers to the Russian positions. For FPV attacks on the city of Zaporozhye, located to the south, about 20 kilometers from the front, the battery of small drones is actually not enough.
FPV and mother drones
"But the enemy is now using the "Molniya" drone as a mother drone," says Andriy. "Molniya", which are larger drones, carry two to three FPV drones into the urban area and amplify the internet signal through which the pilots control the small drones.
Andriy points to the monitor. That's probably an FPV drone flying there, he says. "We see it on the radar cross-section," explains the soldier, who volunteered four years ago. Before that, Andriy was a police officer in Mariupol, a city on the Sea of Azov that Russia has occupied for more than four years.
Now Andriy is deciding how to counter invading drones. Against long-range drones like the "Shahed" his unit uses newly developed interceptor drones. Against FPV drones, they use their own FPV drones. With the drone that just approached, this is not necessary. Andriy manages to neutralize it with jammers. They make it uncontrollable.
53-year-old Inna Krasnich has already finished her therapy in the city center. The purpose of the sessions is to relieve stress without discussing specific problems. Krasnich tells the ARD team that she will light a candle at home in the evening, which will calm her down. Because it is at dusk that drone attacks usually intensify and sometimes last all night.
Florian Kellermann (ARD)