A drone exploded on a busy beach in southern Russia, killing seven people, including three children, local authorities said.
In images spread on social media and verified by the BBC, a drone can be seen heading at full speed towards a cliff before crashing and causing a fireball on the beach, while tourists watch from the sand and water.
The total number of injured is 40, of which 17 were hospitalized, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev. He accused Ukraine of a deliberate attack against civilians.
Kyiv has not commented on the matter. Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
It is unknown what the drone's objective was.
Some Ukrainian Telegram channels claim that it crashed on the beach as a result of “electronic warfare” that interfered with the signal directing it.
But several eyewitnesses, cited by Russian media, stated that gunshots were heard before the explosion, suggesting that air defenses may have attempted to shoot down the drone.
“Everything happened in front of my children”
The incident occurred on a beach near the Black Sea town of Arkhipo-Osipovka.
With its warm climate, long beaches and developed tourism infrastructure, it is a popular holiday destination for Russians, especially since Western sanctions have restricted international travel for many.
Tourists and residents of Arkhipo-Osipovka told local media that sirens did not sound before the drone hit.
“We covered ourselves with lounge chairs and didn't see where it exploded,” said one tourist.
Another person commented that, although he did not see the impact of the drone, he did hear “shots, like machine guns,” followed by an explosion.
"Everything happened in front of my children. My son is having a nervous breakdown," said a third person.
drone war
Over the past year, Ukraine has seen increasing success in carrying out long-range attacks on Russian territory, hitting energy infrastructure and commercial warehouses that it claims are used for military purposes.
On several occasions, these attacks have caused civilian deaths; Eight people died in different Russian cities over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Russia has launched attacks on residential areas and cities since the start of its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, killing and wounding thousands of civilians.
On Saturday, at least nine people were killed and dozens injured in Russian ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The city's mayor reported that a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district was partially destroyed, leaving its occupants trapped inside.
Last week, an attack on a building in the Kryvyi Rih area of Ukraine left a family of ten dead.
The latest Ukrainian attacks have targeted in particular the warehouses of Wildberries, a large online retailer known as the “Russian Amazon.”
The latest hit a warehouse in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow, in the early hours of Monday. Dozens of Wildberries warehouses throughout Russia, many of them located thousands of kilometers from the border with Ukraine, have been affected.
Kyiv claims that Wildberries warehouses are used to supply the Russian military, something Moscow denies.
However, until recently, the platform sold various items related to the military field, such as bulletproof vests, as well as products with civil applications and for the production of drones.
