Ukrainian drone strike kills 12-year-old boy and parents in Russian region
A twelve-year-old boy and his parents have been killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Vladimir Region, according to Governor Aleksandr Avdeev. The family’s five-year-old daughter survived with burns.
Emergency crews extinguished a fire that broke out after the family’s home was struck in the attack. Residents in a neighboring apartment of the two-apartment block in the Aleksandrovsky municipal district were unharmed.
The boy killed in the strike had celebrated his birthday just the day before, Anna Kuznetsova, head of the district, said.
Moscow has accused Kiev of attacking civilians because it cannot halt Russian advances on the battlefield.
Also on Tuesday, Zaporozhye Governor Evgeny Balitsky reported that a Ukrainian drone had struck a school in the village of Velikaya Znamenka, injuring five children and one adult.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said 45 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight over several regions. UAVs were shot down over the Leningrad, Voronezh, Belgorod, Vladimir, Bryansk, Volgograd, Penza, and Krasnodar regions, as well as over the Black Sea.
Leningrad Region was among the hardest-hit, with military forces continuing to repel a massive wave of Ukrainian drones. Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said that, as of the latest update, 22 UAVs had been shot down. St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport was also forced to introduce temporary flight restrictions due to the drone incursions.
In recent months, Kiev has intensified strikes on Russia’s regions, including civilian and oil infrastructure, in an effort to disrupt the country’s ability to export crude. Ukrainian officials deny deliberately targeting civilians, claiming that their goal is to inflict economic damage to pressure Russia to abandon its objectives in the four-year Ukraine conflict.
Moscow has accused Kiev of resorting to terrorist tactics and inflicting damage on third parties not involved in the conflict between the two nations.
The Kremlin has also noted that US-mediated talks with Ukraine have been placed on hold due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
