MOSCOW: Drone attacks in Russia’s border region of Belgorod killed three people and injured at least 19 others on Tuesday, according to local authorities, as Moscow accused Ukraine of intensifying strikes on civilian targets.
Two people were killed when a drone hit a business facility in a village near the Ukrainian border, while another person died in a separate attack on a town outside Belgorod city, regional officials said.
In another incident, a drone targeted a passenger bus in the town of Shebekino, located near the border with Ukraine. Nineteen people were injured in the attack, with all but one taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the strike, accusing Kyiv of carrying out repeated attacks on public transport across Russian regions.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the latest incident demonstrated what she described as Ukraine’s “maniacal persistence” in targeting civilian transport, alleging that such attacks were aimed at ordinary people amid battlefield setbacks.
Authorities in parts of Russian-controlled Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region also claimed that five people were injured in a separate Ukrainian drone strike on a bus.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of targeting civilian infrastructure inside Russian territory, including public transport.
Russian officials also blamed Ukraine for a previous attack on a bus carrying Belarusian children to a holiday destination, which they said killed one woman and injured six children.
Kyiv has rejected such accusations, calling them false and denying responsibility for attacks on civilian vehicles.
The latest strikes come as drone warfare continues to play an expanding role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with both sides regularly reporting attacks on targets across the front line and in border areas.
