Ukraine-Russia drone strikes kill at least 11 as holiday camps are hit
Officials reported deaths in Russian-held Zaporizhia and Ukraine’s Sumy region, while Romania said it downed a drone near the border.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Ukraine Russia drone strikes killed at least 11 people in attacks reported by officials on Saturday, including children at holiday camps in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine. The deaths add to a summer rise in civilian casualties as Moscow and Kyiv continue to trade attacks far from parts of the front line.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed regional governor in occupied Zaporizhia, said at least eight people were killed overnight Friday in a suspected Ukrainian strike on holiday camps. He said two children were among the dead.
Balitsky said the attack hit Kyrylivka, a seaside village on the Azov Sea that came under Russian control shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. He accused Ukraine of deliberately striking civilians and said 14 other people were wounded, including three children.
Ukraine did not immediately comment on the reported strike in Kyrylivka.
What happened in the latest Ukraine-Russia drone strikes?
In Ukraine’s Sumy region, which borders Russia, a Russian drone hit a civilian facility and started a large fire, according to Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration. Hryhorov said three drivers working for the private Ukrainian postal and courier company Nova Poshta were killed.
The attacks followed a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said in his Friday evening address that Ukrainian intelligence believed Russia was preparing a large-scale attack. No further details of that assessment were provided in the reports.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians. Civilian deaths have increased during the summer, according to reporting by AFP, AP and Reuters.
Romania says it shot down a drone near Ukraine
Romania’s defence ministry said Saturday that its forces safely shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace near the Ukrainian border. The ministry said the drone was intercepted over an unpopulated area.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on social media that a Romanian pilot flying an F-16 shot down the drone. The incident came one day after a suspected Russian drone was shot down around Padina, northeast of Bucharest.
Romania, a NATO member, has been affected by repeated drone incidents since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. In June, a Ukrainian maritime drone exploded at the Black Sea port of Constanta, while three other sea drones exploded outside the port; no injuries were reported.
A month before that, a Russian drone headed for Ukraine went off course and struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people, according to the reported account.
Recent strikes have hit civilian sites
On Friday, a drone strike hit a shopping centre in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, causing a fire and several injuries, regional head Ivan Fedorov said. Zaporizhzhia is split between Ukrainian-held and Russian-held areas.
In a separate attack near Kyiv, at least 10 people were killed and nearly 100 others were wounded at a site hosting a defence industry event, according to earlier reports. The latest deaths in Zaporizhia and Sumy bring renewed attention to the widening toll of drone and missile attacks on civilians and civilian-linked sites.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.