A Russian drone hits a petroleum station in Kherson, close to Ukraine’s frontline, on 6 July.
Picture:
This image reveals the injury carried out by the drone. Supply: DSNS
Russian brigades typically put up video footage from first individual view (FPV) drone strikes in Ukraine on their Telegram channels.
The movies posted to Telegram from FPV drones present emergency autos clearly.
The Russian brigade that posted the movies captioned them: “Kherson DSNS. The State Emergency Service becomes a target if obstacles are created to the completion of combat missions. Transport is disabled, manpower is not harmed – the goal is achieved!”
Later that day, a Russian soldier wrote a put up on Telegram that matches the above video.
Extra on Information And Forensics
The soldier included the images of the broken car, shared by DSNS, which he captions: “Any movement of vehicles will be considered a legitimate target.”
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
0:45
Trump hopes of Zelenskyy-Putin assembly
Growing assaults
And our evaluation has recognized a rise in such assaults within the month earlier than Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are resulting from meet for peace talks in Alaska. Assaults on emergency response autos have elevated this summer season, peaking in July 2025.
The press releases compiled don’t embrace incidents the place rescue autos had been focused by Russian forces however not struck, and don’t embrace assaults on emergency service personnel the place autos weren’t concerned.
The excessive variety of incidents signifies a sample of assaults concentrating on civilian medical personnel, which is prohibited by the Geneva Conference.
“They want to try and convince Ukrainians not to become medics, not to volunteer, they want to make it as dangerous as possible, and they have no regard for human life, so they’re not going to abide by any kind of international law.”
The excessive stage of assaults in July has continued into this month.
On the night of 6 August, 23-year-old rescue employee Danylo Khyzhnyak was killed in a direct artillery strike on an ambulance responding to an earlier assault in Nikopol, a metropolis on the Dnipro river that has confronted close to fixed Russian bombardment.
Picture:
Senior Lieutenant of the Civil Protection Service Danylo Khyzhnyak. Pic: DSNS
Intentional strikes on emergency companies
All autos in frontline areas danger being focused by Russian drones, however emergency companies are significantly weak as they reply to earlier Russian assaults.
Haring mentioned: “It’s no exaggeration to say that Russia favours the tactic of double tap. Double tap is when there’s a hit and emergency workers go in, and then there’s the second strike to wipe out the emergency workers.”
“[Russia is] using it quite aggressively in Ukraine. We’ve seen it in Odesa, we’ve seen it in Zaporizhzhia, we have seen it in Dnipro and Kharkiv. In every major city.”
Maksym Kurchyk, head of the Kherson Regional Municipal Emergency Rescue Service (HOKARS), is nicely conscious of the dangers his group takes.
“The Russians monitor us and on their social media warn that we are a priority target for them. We are being hunted.”
Within the drone movies posted to Telegram from Russian brigades, emergency companies insignia is commonly seen.
“The emergency services, they have very clear insignia that you cannot misinterpret. You cannot misinterpret a medic as someone else or a firefighter as someone else”.
Article 15 of Further Protocol I to the Geneva Conference states civilian medical personnel should be revered and guarded in all circumstances.
A July 2024 report from the Workplace of the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirmed Russian double-tap strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine represent a conflict crime.
The report states: “Conducting a new attack on the same location or target during the timeframe in which medical and other emergency response workers would be known or foreseeably expected to be on scene to assist victims raises serious concerns, at the very least, as to a lack of sufficient precaution required under IHL [International Humanitarian Law] to minimize harm caused to civilians.
“If the documented assaults had been performed with the aim of killing or injuring first responders or different civilians, they’d represent deliberate assaults on civilians, a conflict crime.”
“All strikes are directed solely at navy or military-industrial belongings. Nevertheless, quite a few examples of the Ukrainian military’s abuse of the Crimson Cross insignia are well-known.
Lavrov didn’t present proof of those claims.
Extra assaults in jap Ukrainian cities
Assaults on emergency service autos had been particularly excessive in Kherson, within the south of the nation, the place Russian and Ukrainian forces are solely divided by the Dnipro river.
Poberezhnyi, the Reality Hounds researcher, defined: “When you attack emergency services, you make it harder for civilians to live in such places because these attacks give this sense of insecurity to civilians.”
“[Russian forces are] trying to give this sense of insecurity to the people that they will not receive medical help, that they wouldn’t be assisted in extinguishing fires if their property is engulfed in flames due to shellings.”
Within the first seven months of 2025, Reality Hounds verified extra small drone assaults on civilian inhabitants, property and infrastructure than in 2023 and 2024 mixed displaying an escalation in drone use.
Combating between Russian and Ukrainian forces reached a brand new peak in July, information from battle monitoring group ACLED reveals.
Volunteer emergency service charities working in Ukraine have additionally been focused.
Two ambulances donated by Undertaking Hope, a healthcare non-profit working in frontline districts in Ukraine, to native emergency companies have been attacked.
In early July, a Undertaking Hope ambulance operated by the Kharkiv Regional Emergency Medical Middle was attacked by a drone close to Kupiansk hospital in jap Ukraine.
Picture:
The Undertaking Hope ambulance attacked in Kupiansk on 9 July. Pic: Undertaking Hope
On 8 August, Dr Olga Yakovlieva, appearing director of the Kostiantynivka Major Well being Care Middle, a accomplice facility with Undertaking Hope, died following a Russian assault on a medical service car in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, in jap Ukraine.
Picture:
Dr Olga Yakovlieva was killed in a Russian strike. Pic: Undertaking Hope
The medical car had hospital markings and crimson crosses and was struck by a drone.
Rabih Torbay, Undertaking Hope’s chief government and president, mentioned: “As President Trump prepares to meet with President Putin in Alaska this week, we urge him to defend the sanctity of health care by condemning Russia’s deliberate targeting of health workers, ambulances, and health facilities – actions that are not only morally corrupt but are flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.”
The Scottish Emergency Rescue Affiliation (SERA) has been delivering fireplace engines to the frontline for a number of years.
Picture:
Kurchyk and his group in August 2024 earlier than the Kherson Regional State Administration constructing was destroyed. Pic: HOKARS
Regardless of the hazards Kurchyk, the Kherson Regional Municipal Emergency Rescue Service head isn’t planning to cease working.
“It’s difficult for everyone, but we all understand that we need to help people, and we put ourselves at risk, but we believe that we are rescuers and our job is to help,” he mentioned.
Further reporting by visible investigations producer Michelle Inez Simon, digital investigations journalist Kaitlin Tosh and OSINT producers Freya Gibson and Sam Doak.
