13/07/2026
The so-called "elite" Russian Rubicon drone teams which pride themselves on only hitting military assets and supply vehicles, blew up a truck full of pork carcuses early this morning, down at the Kherson markets in Ukraine.
Butcher's hooks, rib cages and the smell of bacon were the giveaway; confirmed by one local trying to communicate with me on-scene, making pig sounds and gutting gestures.
The interaction became uncomfortable because I thought he was talking about me, until the penny dropped later; the smouldering truck revealing its load.
This morning at 6.00am was an eerie drive down to the markets, with almost no cars on the road.
Passing through a major roundabout and watching infantry firing into the sky, it was unsettling to know that my van was the only target around, on wheels.
Completely different feeling to running from drones, because there's nowhere to take cover, in a big white van.
While trainee Russian pilots working over Kherson will hit anyone or anything; reinforcing the term "human safari", I'll go back taking public buses, as I don't want to smash into a tree or a poor civilian, trying to outrun what's hunting above.
At this point, the drone nets feel useless. They will stop radio-controlled FPVs that are limited by signal strength and trajectory on descent; but the fibre-optic ones hitting the markets are already underneath, and I dare say they're being piloted by more capable operators.
I got called-out filming this truck by a frustrated local putting the final embers out; and it was a fair call, I say. I was pushing it by the final address to camera.
It sounded as though I was defended by another local who seemed to call back at him, but I still complied and left the markets with my tail between my legs.
10 minutes after the truck strike, a white car was hit at the market entrance; not far from my own van.
His injuries seemed limited to a concussion, but the explosion sounded enormously close.
No one was hurt in the pork truck hit. Just my feelings.
Six months into my stay in this frontline city, I'm not sure how much more I have to offer Kherson.
It's probably time to find another pathway.
