Two other girls were seriously wounded in the strike on Russia’s Belgorod Region, local officials have said
A 13-year-old girl has been killed and two other children wounded after a Ukrainian drone struck near a playground in Russia’s Belgorod Region on Sunday, local officials have said.
The attack occurred in the village of Printsevka in the Valuysky District, according to municipal head Aleksandr Shuvaev. The teenager suffered critical injuries and died as emergency workers attempted to save her, he said.
“Medics who arrived at the scene took every possible measure to save her, but the injuries proved incompatible with life,” Shuvaev wrote in a statement.
Two other girls, aged seven and nine, were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds. The seven-year-old suffered multiple injuries to her head, back, and legs, while the nine-year-old was also struck by fragments, according to the official.
Regional Health Minister Andrey Ikonnikov later said both children were in a moderately serious condition and were continuing to receive treatment.
The strike was part of a series of Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod Region over the weekend that killed four civilians, including the teenager, and wounded another 32 people, Ikonnikov said.
A total of 134 people injured in Ukrainian attacks are currently being treated in medical facilities across the region, including 12 children, according to the minister. Twelve adult patients remain in intensive care.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik has also reported that more than 35 children have been killed in Ukrainian strikes since the beginning of the year and more than 300 injured.
Following the Belgorod strike, seven people, including three children, were also killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a crowded beach area near the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik on Monday.
The strike wounded around 40 people, 17 of whom were hospitalized, and damaged civilian infrastructure, according to Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
Ukraine has sharply intensified its long-range drone campaign in recent weeks, targeting oil facilities, warehouses, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure deep inside Russian territory as Kiev’s forces continue to suffer setbacks on the battlefield.
Moscow has described the strikes as terrorist attacks deliberately targeting civilians and has responded by stepping up long-range strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial and logistical infrastructure. Moscow maintains that its strikes only target military sites and infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s armed forces.
