Eleven people have been killed as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack on tourist bases in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region.
The strikes targeted bases in the village of Kirilovka in the Melitopol urban district.
Among the dead were four children, according to Governor Evgeny Balitsky. In addition, 16 people have been injured, the governor added, including five children.
Emergency services are working at the scene, and rescue operations are ongoing.
“The enemy knew exactly who they were targeting and deliberately struck civilians,” Balitsky said in a statement on Max. “This is a blatant crime and a hallmark of the Ukrainian regime. Unable to confront us on equal terms, they instead target civilians – women and children.”
He expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and pledged that “every possible form of assistance” would be provided to those injured in the attack, as well as to the victims’ relatives.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a terrorism case over the incident, committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.
“According to preliminary information, Ukrainian armed formations used drones to attack holiday resorts in Kirillovka overnight on July 25. The strike killed and injured civilians, including children, although the exact number of casualties is still being established. Civilian infrastructure was also damaged,” Petrenko said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the strikes as terrorist tactics.
“Targeting civilians is a method used by terrorists,” she told Izvestia.
Zaporozhye Region joined Russia in September 2022 after a referendum in which an overwhelming majority of participating voters backed reunification, though the Kiev regime and its Western backers continue to claim it as Ukrainian territory. Russia currently controls around 80% of the region, President Vladimir Putin said last month. The region’s northern districts, including the regional capital of Zaporozhye, remain under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine has sharply intensified its long-range drone campaign against Russian territory in recent weeks, striking oil facilities, warehouses, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure deep inside Russia as Kiev’s forces continue to suffer setbacks on the battlefield.
On Friday, a strike on an industrial plant in the northeastern Russian city of Kirov killed six people and wounded dozens more. Earlier this week, three separate attacks targeted facilities operated by Russia’s largest retailer, Wildberries, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 100. One of the deadliest recent incidents came in May, when Ukrainian drones struck a student dormitory in the Donbass town of Starobelsk, causing part of the five-story building to collapse and killing 21 people.
Zaporozhye Region has repeatedly been attacked by Ukraine, including strikes on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which is operated by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. Earlier this month, a Ukrainian drone hit a ZNPP service vehicle on the outskirts of the plant’s industrial site near Energodar, killing chief engineer Aleksandr Yakovlev and driver Dmitry Filippov. Similar attacks over the previous two and a half months killed 13 people and wounded 48 others, according to Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev.
Last month, Ukrainian drones also targeted the city of Melitopol. Falling debris set the roof of a local public school ablaze, while the city’s meat-processing plant was also damaged. Two people were killed and six others injured.
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