Two teenagers have been killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Belgorod Region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.
The victims were aged 18 and 15, the governor of Belgorod Region wrote in a post on his Telegram channel, adding that the drone deliberately targeted the motorcycle they were riding in the village of Volchya Aleksandrovka in Volokonovsky District. He added that the two died at the scene from their injuries and offered condolences to their families, writing: “This is a terrible loss for all of us.”
Belgorod and other Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly been targeted by drone strikes during the ongoing conflict. Moscow has accused Kiev of “terrorism” and of deliberately targeting civilians and critical infrastructure.
The drone which took the boys’ lives was just one of dozens Kiev has used to target Belgorod Region this week. On Wednesday, three women were killed when a drone struck a passenger bus in Voznesenovka. Eight others were injured, two of them seriously.
A day earlier, a man was killed in the same village when a drone hit a car. In a separate incident, a married couple were killed when a drone struck their vehicle in the village of Bobrava in Rakityansky district. Their 16-year-old son was injured and suffered blast trauma.
Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as desperate “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks Kiev’s military has been suffering on the battlefield.
Moscow has retaliated with a long-range strike campaign of its own, targeting dual-use infrastructure, including power grid facilities and military sites in Ukraine with missiles and drones. Russia maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites.