At least six people were killed and 35 others injured Monday morning in a Ukrainian attack by explosive drones in the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine and regularly targeted by kyiv’s forces, the local governor announced.
“Two small trucks (…), which were transporting employees to their workplace, and a car were attacked by the Ukrainian army using kamikaze drones,” detailed Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram. “Six people died” and “35 people were injured,” he lamented, specifying that the attack took place near Beriozovka, a village very close to the Ukrainian border.
One man is in “serious condition”, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, while the other people injured “more or less seriously due to the shrapnel, were transported by paramedics to medical centers in the region”. Two children had “superficial injuries,” he added.
An attack on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for his fifth term
According to regional authorities, the affected vehicles belonged to a local meat company and were transporting employees. An investigation was opened by the Russian Investigative Committee, in charge of the main investigations in the country.
This Ukrainian attack comes on the eve of the inauguration in the Kremlin of Vladimir Putin, who will officially begin a fifth term as president on Tuesday, and three days before the May 9 celebrations of the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany. Part of these festivities, which generally attract large crowds throughout the country, was canceled by the authorities for security reasons linked in particular to the conflict in Ukraine.
The Belgorod region is regularly targeted by attacks by the Ukrainian army, with kyiv saying it is doing so in response to daily bombardments by Russian forces on Ukrainian cities for more than two years. On December 30, 2023, the city of Belgorod, capital of the eponymous region and located 60 km from the village of Beriozovka, was hit by the deadliest attack on Russian soil since Moscow’s offensive against its Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022. Results: 25 deaths, around a hundred injured and the evacuation of several hundred people.