In Kherson, Ukraine, Every Step Outside Risks Death by Drone

In Kherson, Ukraine, Every Step Outside Risks Death by Drone

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A damaged window in Kherson, Ukraine, in November. The entire city lies within range of cheap Russian quadcopter drones.
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By
Andrew E. Kramer
Visuals by
Mauricio Lima
Reporting from Kherson, Ukraine
Jan. 28, 2026
It was pickup time at the day care. As other children and parents milled about, Tanya Leshchenko sat on a bench in a hallway and bundled her 5-year-old daughter into a purple winter coat. But before stepping outside, one more task remained.
Ms. Leshchenko checked an online chat group for warnings of incoming attack drones. The group posts crowdsourced alerts in the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, where the daily risk of death from flying robots offers a vision of an eerie, postapocalyptic future.
One warning last fall simply said, “I hear a drone!” — an ominous buzzing that has become a grim, intermittent soundtrack in the city. On the day when Ms. Leshchenko, 36, was picking up her daughter, however, the sky was calm. They walked out and headed toward the bus stop.
“You cannot outrun a drone,” Ms. Leshchenko said, before adding: “It’s scary.”
In Kherson, a city of broad tree-lined boulevards and stately czarist-era mansions, residents fear the open sky. The entire city lies within range of cheap Russian quadcopter drones, which Moscow’s forces launch from territory they occupy just across the Dnipro River.
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Much of the population of Kherson has fled. Those that are left in the city say they have a fear of the open sky.
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A worker removing leaves from anti-drone netting over a thoroughfare. The city is experimenting with myriad drone defenses, including dozens of miles of nets intended to catch drones before they reach an object and explode.
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