Putin targets civilians in barbaric ‘safari’ attacks as Trump turns blind eye - The Independent

Ordinary Ukrainians are now the targets of Russia’s bombs and drones as Putin gets more help from the US president, writes world affairs editorSam Kiley

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Vladimir Putin is targeting Ukrainian civilians in a surge of barbaric attacks across the country despiteDonald Trumpclaiming thatRussiaisacting “fine” in the war.

New figures released by the UN this week show the number of Ukrainian civilian casualties in September rose by 85 per cent compared with the year before.

First-person drones, long-range glide bombs, ballistic rockets and new jet-powered Shahed cruise missiles are being used in the attacks as winter closes in. No one is off limits. Children, babies, mothers in the park, elderly fruit vendors.

FromKhersontoKharkiv,Kyivto Kramatorsk, “hunting drone safaris” picking off ordinary people are taking the war far beyond the front lines.

Of the 328 people killed and 2,105 injured last month, 53 per cent of casualties were caused by missiles and long-range drones while 23 per cent were caused by short-range drones.

This data reveals the lie ofPresident Trump’s recent assertion that Russia is acting “fine” inUkraine.

It also flies in the face of his special envoy Steve Witkoff’s claim thatVladimir Putinis a “humanitarian” in this meat-grinding conflict, which has now lasted longer than the First World War.

The UN figures show a 32 per cent increase in the number of civilian deaths and 65 per cent rise in injuries from January to September 2026, compared to the same time frame last year.

The murder and maiming of ordinary people in the deeply personal “hunting drone” killings was once confined to frontline cities such as Kherson, where Russian pilots use headsets to guide small airborne weapons onto women, the elderly and anyone caught in the open.

Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, is now fair game. The towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, known as fortress cities as they are Ukrainian redoubts close to the front lines, have been added to Russian drone sorties.

In Kherson, deputy leader of the local administration Oleksandr Tolokonnikov describes an existence which is rapidly becoming the kind of life that Ukraine’s civilians face everywhere.

“People are constantly listening to the sounds around them. If they hear a buzzing sound, they understand that a drone may be nearby and try to find shelter as quickly as possible. If they hear artillery firing… they also try to hide.

“Another habit is constantly watching where you step. Russians are remotely dropping mines, so even a normal walk along the street can be dangerous.

“People are constantly watching where they step, listening to the sky, looking for possible threats and remembering where the nearest shelter is.

“These are the habits people have developed to survive in our city.”

On the same day Mr Trump proclaimed Russia to be “not doing that much” in Ukraine, at least 10 people, among them a baby, her mother and a girl of 11, were killed near Kharkiv in a Russian attack.

The week before, 22 people were killed by missiles targeting their homes in Chernihiv, north of Kyiv. Russian glide bombs, which have target guidance systems on board, also killed 33 people in and around two buses in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. And 23 people were killed when five more bombs hit blocks of flats inZaporizhzhiato the south.

In the capital, Oleksandr Merezkho, chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, describes a surge in the number of direct hits to the apartments near where he lives.

“Life in Kyiv and other cities is getting harder because we have air raids non-stop,” he says. “There are constant sounds of explosions, power cuts and sometimes water disappears.”

Cities in the far west, once more secure from Russian attacks, are increasingly under attack, with six people killed in a market at the beginning of this month in Lutsk, not far from the Polish border.

Ukraine’s ability to defend its airspace has been hamstrung by a shortage of US-made Patriot missiles and other similar weapons.

In addition, US sanctions against Russia have been eased with a diesel supply deal agreed with the Kremlin, as well an easing of some financial restrictions.

But most damaging for Ukraine has been the restriction on the speed a Starlink terminal can move through space.Starlinkterminals are used on Ukrainian anti-missile systems that must travel at over 300kmph to bring down incoming Shahed jet missiles. They have recently been restricted to 160kmph.

A senior source on the front lines toldThe Independentthat up to 60 per cent of offensive shorter-range drones have been rendered inoperable by the US sabotage of Ukraine’s weapons systems.

Mr Trump insists connectivity has been restored, but that is not being felt on the ground.

On Thursday, following the use of cluster bombs against Kyiv’s historic centre, Ukraine’s PresidentZelenskywarned of worse to come.

“Our intelligence services report that Russia has set priorities for further terror against Ukrainians in the coming weeks. Russia is clearly taking advantage of the slowdown in air defence supplies from our partners.

“It is equally clear that when some partners ease the pressure on Russia, it only reinforces Putin’s belief that his goals are within reach. We need different signals and different steps, stronger ones.”

Now that the US has turned to sabotaging Ukrainian weapons systems through Starlink, stronger steps will need to come from Europe and the UK.

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