Kherson Weekly: 22-28 March 2025
A Weekly Review of War-Related Events in & around Kherson
Photo: Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office
Photo of the Week
Photo: Toronto TV (Obtained from Militarnyi)
The identities of several officers of units responsible for the Human Safari in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts were revealed by investigative reporting from Ukrainian outlet Toronto TV. This week’s photo of the week is the headshot of one Alexander Sheptura, a.k.a. Osvedomitell Alex, the man behind the Telegram channel “From Mariupol to the Carpathians” most known for its publication of blatant war crimes, propaganda, and racist anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. Sheptura is known for his involvement in war crimes in Donetsk Oblast and is suspected of being involved in the Olenivka Prison Massacre in 2022, according to the report. Additionally, it was revealed that Sheptura had served in the 205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade, known for their involvement in the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in 2023 and its participation in the Human Safari in Beryslav Raion, as revealed by Deutsche Welle’s investigation in August 2024.
Connection to the 205th Motor Rifle Brigade was seen in October, when Sheptura posted a certificate he received from the brigade on the channel. The certificate was issued to the channel on 16 August 2024.
Photo: Osvedomitell Alex
Watch the full report below:
Video of the Week
The video of the week is without a doubt the video of a drone strike on municipal repair workers which went viral among pro-Ukrainian social media circles and even cracked into the mainstream. This video released by Osvedomitell Alex on 23 March was archival footage of a Russian war crime from 18 October 2024, as identified by the local media source Kherson Non-Fake. The Kherson ODA reported that men ages 24, 41, 43, 44, and 47 were injured in the strike whilst repairing damage from previous shelling. Kherson Non-Fake indicated that the original shelling occurred on 14 October.
Video: Osvedomitell Alex
Geolocation by Dominik on X for Ukraine Daily Update Map
The Kherson Administration employed locals in an emergency municipal repair corps. These workers were targeted not only on 18 October while repairing a roof, but the very next day, on 19 October, five more municipal repair workers, men aged 21, 42, 48, 53, and 58, were wounded in a Russian drone strike.
The targeting of municipal workers is a deliberate tactic which continues today. We saw two weeks ago in Kherson Weekly how Russian drone pilots of the Phobos Group struck a municipal garbage truck on 10 March on Dmytra Markovycha St. in Tekstilne, north of Antonivka.
Terror from the Left Bank
#1
03.22.2025
Phobos Group released a claimed Russian FPV strike on a Ukrainian mortar position in eastern Antonivka.
Video: Phobos|BpLA
Geolocation by foosint on Bluesky for Ukraine Daily Update Map
#2
03.24.2025
A video was released by Osvedomitell Alex on 24 March of a drone stalking a civilian and attacking them via skid-drop. Apparent here is the lack of leaves on the trees. The civilian attempts to take cover under trees along a wall, but is left visible from above due to the lack of foliage. In this respect, it really is like a jungle safari in that the people of Kherson are most safe from their hunters and terrorizers where the leaves are thickest and when the weather is poorest.
Video: Osvedomitell Alex
Geolocation by Dominik on X for Ukraine Daily Update Map
#3
03.26.2025
A pair of videos released by the Russian KHABR Group showed a strike on a civilian man in Antonivka. The drone can clearly be seen stalking the man, observing him take cover, and then proceed to attack the man with a skid-drop. Again, sparse tree cover inhibits the civilian’s ability to shield themselves from being spotted by the terrorists above.
Videos: KHABR|BpLA
Geolocation by foosint on Bluesky for Ukraine Daily Update Map
#4
03.27.2025
The Phobos Group struck again what they claim was a mortar position. This could be true, but despite trying to identify the target at the start of the video, it remains unclear as to the exact target. Interestingly, this new habit of circling the target in red seems to have spread from Osvedomitell Alex to the Phobos Group and many of the other war criminal drone teams.
Video: Phobos|BpLA
Geolocation by foosint on Bluesky for Ukraine Daily Update Map
Formula Engineers: 61st Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade
After a nearly month-long break in their regular posting, the Formula Engineers Group of the Russian 61st Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade began sharing footage again of their operations to the southwest of Kherson city. Based on their own logo, they can be easily identified as an engineer-sapper company (инженерно-саперная рота) in the Russian Naval Infantry (морская пехота). In the area of operations surrounding Kherson, there is only one Russian Naval Infantry unit right now: the 61st. The last time any other Naval Infantry unit was in theatre, was the 810th in July, but they were redeployed and still managed to find one-way tickets to assaults in Kursk, as opposed to the one-way ticket assaults in the Dnipro Delta.
Since beginning Kherson Weekly in December, this group has been visually confirmed to be increasingly employing Molniya-2 drones against structures in the coastal villages of Kizomys and Veletenske. Their area of responsibility seems to be roughly from Sofiivka to Berehove. Russian forces appear to be using Molniya drones in order to supplement artillery barrages, as evidenced by the mix of shelling and drone strikes on structures in Kizomys.
Photos: Tourists 51; Tourists 51
Molniya drones are nothing new. These cheap catapult-launched fixed-wing kamikaze drones have been well-documented in their use against the cities of Kharkiv and Kupiansk, as well as various settlements across Donetsk Oblast. In Kherson however, their use remains limited to settlements outside the city—both to the east and west. Upstream from Kherson, the 104th VDV Division utilizes the platform in Beryslav Raion. Southwest of Kherson, units of the 61st Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, like Formula Engineers or Tourists 51 employ the Molniya drone. Both groups employ the drone in a similar fashion and make use of its ability to carry IEDs as customizable warheads. Most often, TM-62 anti-tank mines are disassembled and repurposed as warheads to demolish structures in Ukrainian villages.
#1
03.25.2025
Artillery and Molniya drones work in combination, demonstrating what appears to be a favorite tactic on the unit. Russian barrel artillery saturated the general area, while the Molniya drones seemed responsible for more precise targeting of specific structures the shelling may have missed. Russian sources claim this structure was being used as a position for Ukrainian drone operators in the river village of Kizomys. After recon designated the target for mortar or artillery shelling, the Russians let loose a barrage on the village. The artillery was wildly ineffective and inaccurate, as the structure designated was still standing and more or less intact. A pair of Russian Molniya drones then flew in, one after the other, to first remove the roof and then penetrate the structure.
Video: Formula Engineers
Geolocation by Andrew Perpetua for Ukraine Daily Update Map
#2
03.26.2025
Russian Molniya-2 drones continued to pound buildings in Kizomys in footage released the next day. Here the Russians showcase a one-two punch tactic with the drones. The first drone smashes through the roof and the second seeks to collapse the structure from the side. After a battle damage assessment conducted by a Mavic drone from above, a third and fourth strike hit the structure to ensure its destruction. This could suggest that they prefer Molniya drones to work in pairs, or that they may be limited by the number of launch sites or launch equipment, and therefore can only employ two Molniya drones at a time. Either could be true.
Video: Formula Engineers
Geolocation by Road to Mars for Ukraine Daily Update Map
#3
03.27.2025
In a seemingly odd post for the unit, a Russian drone engages with a Ukrainian Mavic drone, possibly from the 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade operational on the Right Bank opposite the occupiers. Drone interceptions via FPV drones coming from the Russian side are becoming more popular, specifically within this unit.
We will learn much more about this topic next week. For now, check out my colleague Artem’s latest Tochnyi article, where he discusses some of the tactics shown here in this video, such as a top-down attack on drones with mainly downward facing cameras.
Video: Formula Engineers
Geolocation by Brandon for Ukraine Daily Update Map
Tracking Russian Terror
Data: Brendan Kelley
Situation Report
Video of the immediate aftermath of Russian shelling in central Kherson on 27 March.
Video: Oleksandr Prokudin
Casualties from drone attacks remained relatively average this past week with reports of one killed and 13 injured. Rather, the end of the week was punctuated by the Russian forces with a substantial artillery barrage, targeting medical personnel, railway facilities, and energy infrastructure on 27 March. Ukrzaliznytsia reported that a train was hit in the artillery barrage, damaging a civilian passenger car and delaying the train’s departure by a couple hours.
Photos: Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office
Two civilians were killed: a 55-year-old woman and an elderly man. An additional seven civilians reportedly sustained injuries from shelling, among them two videographers, 38 & 39, working for the Kherson ODA.
Photos: Oleksandr Prokudin
During the artillery bombardment of 27 March, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin reported that two medical personnel, a 33-year-old paramedic and 63-year-old ambulance driver, were injured while evacuating a 59-year-old casualty. Russian artillery fire is directed by drones, so this was an intentional double-tap strike on first responders. As regular readers will know, double-tap attacks with various weapons platforms seek to kill non-combatant emergency medical personnel, firefighters, and police. This double-tap attack and a drone strike on a 40-year-old police officer in Bilozerka this week brings the total of casualties amongst Kherson’s medical personnel to 4 killed and 40 injured, if we add to the numbers given by Prokudin last week.
So far in March, Russian forces have maimed or murdered 225 Ukrainian non-combatants in Kherson Raion: 25 people have been killed and another 200 civilians have been wounded by Russian attacks. Of those victims, Russian drone attacks have killed 14 and wounded 112 civilians, while miscellaneous shelling and bombing has killed 11 and wounded 88 civilians.
Since January, 71 civilians have been killed and another 590 have been wounded. Drones are responsible for the deaths of 42 people and injuries to 358 more, while all forms of Russian shelling and bombing combined were responsible for the deaths of 29 people and injuries to 232 others.
As of 28 March 2025, 2134 civilians have been killed or wounded by Russian aggression since 21 June 2024, in Kherson Raion. 101 civilians have been killed by shelling, while 823 have been wounded. Another 99 civilians have been killed by drones, while 1111 civilians have been injured (a total of 1210 non-combatant drone casualties).
Update: I am actively in the process of recording hundreds more casualties in Beryslav Raion and Kherson Raion starting from 1 January 2024. Updates on the data will be forthcoming as I seek to obtain a full picture of all of 2024 and the development of the Human Safari over time. The data is looking interesting so far as I’ve identified drone attacks on ambulances as early as January 2024 in Stanislav. Most attacks appear to be in Beryslav Raion or the city itself, which aligns with previous investigations from Deutsche Welle.
Weekly Non-Combatant Victims of Russian Aggression
Shelling:
Killed: 2 (+ a 74-year-old man killed in Stanislav killed on 17 March)
Wounded: 25 (+ 4 others wounded in the last month who sought medical attention)
Drones:
Killed: 1
Wounded: 13 (+ a 75-year-old woman injured on 20 March)
Total: 41 (+ 1 killed & 5 injured in the past month)
Data: Brendan Kelley
Weekly Damaged Buildings & Infrastructure Report
Video of the aftermath from the barrage of Russian shelling across central Kherson on 27 March.
Video: Oleksandr Prokudin
Private Homes & Apartments: 122
Transformers: 1
Gas Pipelines: 4
Gas Station: 1
Outhouses/Sheds: 4
Garages & Warehouses: 13
Administrative Buildings: 2
Educational Institutions: 3
Medical Facilities: 1
Railway Infrastructure: 2
Stores: 1
Hotels: 1
Data: Kherson Police
Weekly Damaged Vehicle Report
Photos: Kherson ODA
Civilian Automobiles: 22
Scooters: 2
Police & EMS: 6
Agricultural Machinery: 2
Data: Kherson Police
Recommendations:
Documentary which dropped yesterday from Dylan Burns, in which he talks with persecuted Protestants, embeds with combat engineers, interviews victims, and interviews medics:
Documentary which dropped earlier this week from Drew Pavlou, in which he embeds with World Aid Runners and Ben Dusing:
Deutsche Welle’s documentary detailing their investigation into Russia’s Human Safari in Beryslav Raion, perpetrated mainly by the 205th Motor Rifle Brigade and BARS-33.
Kherson will NEVER be a Russian city.
Sources
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