Thousands gathered across six continents on December 13-14 to protest Russia's deliberate drone attacks on civilians in Kherson, while American journalist Zarina Zabrisky presented her documentary and a new sanctions proposal to US lawmakers.
The worldwide protests coincided with Zabrisky's documentary "Kherson: Human Safari" being viewed at the US Capitol Visitor Center on 16 December, co-sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).
At the event, Zabrisky presented a draft bill designed to target those responsible for the attacks: the Liability for Operators and Responsible Authorities Act, or LORA Act, named after Lora the Shepherd—one of countless victims of Russia's drone campaign.
From Kherson to Capitol Hill
The "Stop Human Safari / Save Kherson" rallies took place in approximately 50 cities across roughly 20 countries. Protesters gathered in Munich, Berlin, Paris, London, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Prague, New York, and dozens of other locations—some with hundreds of participants, others with just a single person holding a sign.
"We were able to get the attention from press quite a bit," Zabrisky told Euromaidan Press. The largest rallies took place in Germany—Munich, Berlin, and Bremen—as well as Spain.
The protests coincided with an escalation in drone attacks. According to Kherson Oblast authorities, Russian forces deployed 2,816 FPV drones with explosives in the region during December 8-14 alone—1,235 of them targeting the city of Kherson itself. In July, the weekly count was approximately 1,600. It has since grown by 1,200.
Proposed legislation targets drone operators and supply chains
Following the Capitol Hill event, Zabrisky revealed that former Senate intelligence staffer Paul M. Joyal helped draft the LORA Act based on her concept. The bill aims to establish targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for FPV drone attacks on civilians, restrict exports of sensitive drone components, require public attribution of perpetrators, and coordinate with US allies to disrupt supply chains.
"Two main objectives are the disruption of drone components supplies and accountability for perpetrators," Zabrisky said. Several senators and members of Congress have received the proposal, with think tanks and national security experts supporting advocacy efforts.
Zabrisky emphasized that new legislation is necessary because "human safari is now practiced all over the front line in Ukraine in order to forcefully depopulate territories. It will be spreading all over the world if our politicians and civil society do not act now."
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Ukraine's internet blackout disrupted coordinated response
Organizers had planned a coordinated flash mob with Ukrainians in southern Ukraine posting simultaneously with the hashtags #SaveKherson and #StopHumanSafari. But Russian strikes on critical infrastructure knocked Kherson, Odesa, and Mykolaiv offline precisely when they were meant to join, Zabrisky told Euromaidan Press.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has documented drone attacks across 300 kilometers of front-line territory and concluded they constitute crimes against humanity. President Zelenskyy has described the attacks as a training ground for Russian drone operators—killing civilians for practice.
At the Capitol Hill discussion, Ambassador John Herbst from the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and Kathy Nalywajko, President of the Ukrainian Institute of America, joined Zabrisky to discuss immediate protection measures for Kherson civilians.
"When civilization is in decline, and your city is in ruins—what do you do to survive and remain human?" Zabrisky asks in her film. The protests and proposed legislation suggest an answer: fight back on every front available.
