The key facts

  • Three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed in a drone strike on a minibus near the village of Soldatskoye.
  • The information was confirmed by Governor Alexander Shuvaev, who called the incident a deliberate attack on civilians.
  • Earlier, a similar attack on a minibus was reported on the Bryansk — Novozybkov highway, where a 30-year-old passenger was wounded.

Attack near the village of Soldatskoye

Three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed in a drone attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a civilian minibus near the village of Soldatskoye in the Rakityansky district of the Belgorod region. The region's governor, Alexander Shuvaev, reported this on his channel in the Max messenger (Gazeta.Ru). Life.ru specifies that the victims were a man, a woman and an eight-year-old boy: according to the head of the region, their wounds proved fatal, and all three died at the scene before the ambulance crew arrived.

What is known about the consequences and the assessment of the incident

The minibus sustained serious damage in the strike. The governor has not yet provided any further details about the people in the vehicle. Shuvaev called what happened a monstrous crime and accused Ukrainian servicemen of a deliberate attack on civilians, stressing that the deaths of peaceful residents, especially children, cannot have any justification. These assessments belong to the regional authorities; the available publications contain no independent confirmation of the circumstances of the strike.

A similar incident in the Bryansk region

Life.ru also recalls an earlier similar case: a Ukrainian drone pursued a civilian minibus in the Bryansk region and exploded right above it. The incident occurred on the Bryansk — Novozybkov highway near the settlement of Vygonichi. According to the regional authorities, a 30-year-old passenger suffered shrapnel wounds; he was taken to a hospital, where he received the necessary medical care. The same report cites data that air defense systems shot down 46 Ukrainian UAVs over Russian regions in one day.