A Ukrainian drone strike killed a 13-year-old girl and wounded two other children on Sunday in the Belgorod region of Russia, regional authorities said, after the device struck an area next to a playground in the village of Printsevka, close to the Ukrainian border.
Belgorod's acting governor, Alexander Shavayev, posted a message on Telegram saying medics were unable to save the 13-year-old who suffered serious injuries. Two other girls, aged 7 and 9, were taken to hospital and were being treated, according to the governor's statement.
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, was quoted by Russian news agencies as denouncing the strike near the playground as "another inhumane terrorist act by the Kyiv regime." Her comments were reported after the regional statement about the strike.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for both Lvova-Belova and for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting children from areas of Ukraine under Russian control. The warrants relate to those allegations specifically; Russia rejects the accusations, according to the account in the regional statement.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine’s Defence Ministry to a request for comment on the incident.
The incident adds to a pattern of deadly strikes near places where children gather during the conflict that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The regional statement recalled a separate incident in April 2025, when a Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih, the home city of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sent shrapnel into a dense residential area that included a playground and resulted in the deaths of 11 adults and nine children.
Context and immediate effects
The strike in Printsevka produced at least one fatality and two serious injuries among children using or located near a playground. Local authorities reported the facts of the incident and linked it to ongoing cross-border hostilities. Medical teams were dispatched and hospitals are treating the injured girls, while the deceased was reported as a 13-year-old who could not be saved.
Official reactions
Russian regional officials and a national commissioner for children's rights publicly condemned the strike. The commissioner’s statement characterized the event as an "inhumane terrorist act by the Kyiv regime." At the time of reporting, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry had not issued a response to inquiries about responsibility for the strike.
Reporting on civilian harm near border areas continues as authorities document casualties and pursue official statements. The limited public information available leaves questions about the precise circumstances of the strike and any ensuing investigations.