Russian FPV Drone Strike Wounds Civilian in Kharkiv Oblast as Attacks on Civilians Escalate

Russian forces struck a civilian car with an FPV drone near the village of Slatyne in Kharkiv Oblast on 18 September, injuring a 67-year-old man, the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported. The attack, which occurred at around 13:00 local time while the car was driving toward the town of Derhachi, left the victim with multiple shrapnel wounds to the head and torso. He was hospitalized in moderate condition.

The Derhachi District Prosecutor’s Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into the strike as a war crime under Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which criminalises violations of the laws and customs of war.

The incident is part of a broader pattern of Russian forces increasingly using first-person-view (FPV) drones against non-military targets in Kharkiv Oblast. On 17 September — the day before the Slatyne strike — a separate Russian FPV drone attack killed a civilian in the Chuhuiv district, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The same report noted that on 18 September, a Russian strike on the city of Balakliia, also in Kharkiv Oblast, killed two people and injured two others, setting houses on fire and shattering windows. Vitalii Karabanov, head of the Balakliia City Military Administration, confirmed the casualties and said the injured were receiving treatment.

While FPV drones have become a staple of Russian reconnaissance and strike operations against Ukrainian military positions and armoured vehicles, their targeted use against individual civilian vehicles and residential areas is a worrying development for residents of frontline settlements. Slatyne, a village close to the Russian border in the Derhachi district, has been under near-daily shelling and aerial attacks since early 2022. The shift toward precision drone strikes on civilians signals a deliberate tactic to terrorise non-combatants and disrupt everyday life, rather than simply targeting military infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has recorded hundreds of war crimes cases involving drone attacks in Kharkiv Oblast alone. The investigation into the Slatyne strike will aim to identify the specific Russian unit that operated the drone, though such cases rarely lead to prosecutions while the war continues. The wounded man’s condition remains stable, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The attacks underline the persistent vulnerability of civilians in Kharkiv Oblast, where Russian forces hold positions just a few kilometres from many settlements. Unlike artillery barrages, which can be detected by radar and sometimes intercepted, FPV drones are small, slow-flying and difficult to track, making them an ideal weapon for harassing and killing individuals on roads and in fields.

As of 21 September, no further updates on the victim’s identity or whether any arrests have been made have been released. The Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office continues to gather evidence and has urged residents to report any sightings of Russian drones overhead.

This article was compiled from reports by the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, Vitalii Karabanov, and Ukrainska Pravda.