Russian pro-war channel publishes footage of drones striking humanitarian UN convoy outside Kherson

Russian pro-war sources have published a video of a drone strike on a UN convoy in Ukraine. The footage surfaced on the morning of Oct. 15 via the Telegram channel “From Mariupol to the Carpathians,” which is associated with Russian UAV operators in the Kherson sector. The Ukrainian side had reported a truck attack on Oct. 14, and the UN stated that the incident could be considered a war crime.

In the video, a drone strikes a truck, setting it on fire. The Telegram channel’s contributors claim that the strike targeted a vehicle carrying “dual-use cargo.”

According to the pro-Russian post: “Intelligence promptly detected the movement of dual-use equipment, and within minutes FPV drone teams of the Dnepr Guards’ Brigade were engaging the column. Once the lead and rear vehicles were hit, the artillery of the 18th Dnepr Guards’ Brigade began firing.”

The channel adds that the strike on the column took place near the village of Bilozerka — a location that matches the Ukrainian reports. The Insider geolocated the exact site of the attack to a site on the nearby highway, about one kilometer from the village and roughly 10 km west of Kherson.

The day before, the Telegram channel’s authors accused the Ukrainian side of failing to coordinate the passage of the convoy: “All humanitarian shipments via the UN and the Red Cross are coordinated between the parties. But here, some idiots once again tried to slip through, and it DIDN'T WORK OUT,” one of the posts reads.

“Any movement of vehicles will be considered a legitimate target. All critical infrastructure facilities are legitimate targets,” another post accompanying the strike video says.

The fact that the video shows an attack on a convoy from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is confirmed upon closer frame-by-frame examination. The truck targeted by the drone bears the inscription WFP — the abbreviation for the World Food Programme. On top of the trucks, the UN abbreviation is also visible, marking them as United Nations vehicles.

The strike on the convoy was reported on Oct. 14 by Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Ukraine’s Kherson Regional Military Administration. One of the four trucks burned out completely, and another sustained serious damage. There were no reported casualties.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, called the deliberate attack on humanitarian workers and facilities a severe violation of international humanitarian law. He emphasized that it could be considered a war crime.