The entrance to Kherson is protected by nets, and a green traffic light indicates the safety of movement from enemy FPV drones rather than the right of way, the crew said. Drivers must move quickly, as the green light can turn red at any moment.
Kherson residents call the Russian attacks on the city a "human safari." A woman who earlier evacuated but returned to Kherson said that drones, Grads, artillery, and mortars strike "every day, 24/7."
More than 50 people have been killed and over 450 injured in the city and oblast since the beginning of 2026, Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported. Russian troops deliberately hunt civilians with drones: they spot a person, "mark" them, and kill them.
The Ukrainian Witness team spent several days with volunteer Andrii Pietukhov, known as Boxer. The man survived the occupation of Kherson, and after the city was liberated from Russian invaders, he began helping residents evacuate from dangerous zones in the city and oblast.
"It gets worse and worse every year. People say they have hope, but they simply do not notice how things are getting worse," Boxer said.
Every trip is a massive risk; sometimes there are no more than five minutes to evacuate. Volunteers, together with the police, try to evacuate families with children from the "red zones," where mandatory evacuation has been declared. However, they sometimes face resistance.
"We witnessed a family with three children lock themselves in a battered, windowless house in the village of Stanislav and refuse to leave," the Ukrainian Witness film crew said.
"Now the case will go to court to forcibly evacuate the children from the deadly danger zone. But there are other cases — an old man from Shyroka Balka agreed to evacuate only after the Russians completely destroyed his home. With tears in his eyes, he took out the most valuable things that survived: a pregnant rabbit and a dog named Bonia."
A separate part of Boxer's team's work is the evacuation of the bodies of the dead. According to the man, he once retrieved a body that had lain in a smashed bathtub for over 20 days and helped rebury a son whose mother buried him in the yard by herself.
Kherson residents, the police, and the military administration ask for the evacuation of bodies, Boxer said. Relatives of the deceased often ask to collect at least some remains of bodies torn apart by a shell.
"Despite the total danger, Kherson is a city of contrasts. While the popular Suvorov Street is now empty due to the drone threat, public transport runs in the Tavriiskyi neighborhood, families with children walk around, and coffee shops make lattes and cappuccinos. However, this relative calm can end at any moment, as the hunting zone of enemy drones is constantly expanding," the journalists noted.
Utility workers and the famous Dniprovskyi market, which is located in the "red zone," also continue to operate in Kherson. Despite this, they still sell fresh fish and strawberries there. The danger persists at all times, so when the sound of an enemy drone is heard, sellers drop their goods and run for cover. However, they do not plan to quit their jobs.
The local maternity hospital, which the Russians have attacked several times, is also located in the "red zone" under constant threat. Petro Marenkovskyi, head of the obstetrics department, said that before the war, they handled 1,300-1,500 births a year, whereas just over a hundred children were born in 2025.
"Kherson today is a city where people try to live on in conditions that can hardly be called livable,: the film crew concluded.
"Someone drinks coffee on a bench to the sound of outgoing fire, someone refuses to leave a destroyed house because 'they need to look after the animals,' and someone risks their life every day just to recover the bodies of the dead for a decent burial."