A museum complex in Russia’s Rostov Region has been hit in a drone attack, Governor Yury Slyusar has said
At least 12 people have been injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Rostov Region, Governor Yury Slyusar has said. The strike targeted a museum and a monument dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who liberated the area from the Nazis during World War II in 1943, according to the official.
A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hit the main exhibition hall and the information center of the Sambek Heights museum complex, Slyusar said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday, calling the incident a “great tragedy.” Ten of the people injured were subsequently hospitalized, he added.
The Sambek Heights monument was initially created in 1980 to honor the deeds of the Soviet troops who fought in the area. In 2013, the regional government approved a public initiative to establish a museum complex near the monument, which eventually opened in 2020.
The complex is also commonly known as the “people’s museum” as it was built with donations provided by the people living in the region. Slyusar branded the attack “an act of exceptional cynicism” on the part of the Ukrainian military.
Kiev is ramping up long-range strikes on Russia, targeting civilian and energy infrastructure, as Ukrainian frontline troops suffer setbacks caused by manpower shortages and superior Russian weaponry.
On Friday, the Russian military reported intercepting 660 Ukrainian kamikaze drones in just one night – the largest number to date.
On Saturday, Volgograd Region Governor Andrey Bocharov said that one person was killed and 11 injured in a Ukrainian attack on an industrial facility in the regional capital. Two people are in critical condition, he added.
Russia maintains that these attacks, which it sees as terrorist strikes, will not make it abandon its key security goals in the conflict. Moscow previously warned that it would respond to such attacks with “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers.”
