In this Ukrainian city, every step outside risks death by drone

by · Australian Financial Review

Andrew E. Kramer
Feb 3, 2026 – 5.00am

It is pick-up time at the day care. As other children and parents mill about, Tanya Leshchenko sits on a bench in a hallway and bundles her five-year-old daughter into a purple winter coat. But before stepping outside, one more task remains.

Leshchenko checks 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, post-apocalyptic future.

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