On 21 April, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said that Russian forces attacked civilians in the village of Bilozerka in Kherson Oblast with a drone as they were walking down the street, killing an elderly woman and injuring two men, hours after the “Easter truce” ended.
The attack came immediately following the end of what Moscow had termed an “Easter truce,” which Ukrainian officials say was violated over 2,000 times during its brief implementation. The ceasefire, which was in practice the halt of aerial strikes on civilians, lasted only 30 hours. Meanwhile, the battles continued, resulting in casualties on the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the right-bank part of the region, including the city of Kherson, in the fall of 2022, while the left-bank area, located on the opposite side of the Dnipro River, remains temporarily occupied by Russian troops.
“The Russian army attacked residents of Bilozerka with a drone while they were walking along the street,” Prokudin revealed.
As reported, an elderly woman was killed when explosives were dropped from the drone.
Prokudin added that a 47-year-old man was hospitalized with a blast injury, a closed head trauma, and shrapnel wounds to his legs.
Later, the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the attack killed the 72-year-old woman and injured two men of varying severity.
The Russians use drones to track, pursue, and attack any moving target—drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and even passengers on public transport in Kherson Oblast. Attacks are often filmed and disseminated on Russian military social media channels, with some posts openly referring to the campaign as a “hunt” and boasting about targeting “anyone or anything that moves”.
Local authorities are advising civilians to stay indoors whenever possible and to carry tourniquets in case of injury. Social workers and others who must go outside often wear bulletproof vests for protection.
At the end of March, Russian forces warned residents that satellite dishes capable of receiving Ukrainian signals would be confiscated in Kherson Oblast.
That happened as the occupiers were afraid of Ukrainian attacks on their positions. They also started to deploy air defense and electronic warfare systems from Crimea due to significant losses as a result of the strikes and accurate coordinates provided by partisans and local residents to Kyiv troops.
