MOSCOW, June 17 - Russian officials have accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out a drone strike on a bus that was transporting a group of schoolchildren from Belarus to southern Russia, an event Moscow says caused fatalities and multiple injuries.
Yegor Kovalchuk, the acting governor of Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, said the vehicle had been conveying a children’s soccer team on a holiday journey from Gomel in Belarus to Gelendzhik in Russia. State authorities reported that a woman accompanying the children died and that eight other people, including six children, were injured.
Images posted by the acting governor showed a silver coach with several windows blown out, visible damage to the front right tyre and what appeared to be blood stains on some of the interior seats. Russian investigators said the bus was carrying 44 passengers in total, 28 of whom were children, and they have launched a terrorism investigation into the incident.
The Ukrainian military’s General Staff issued a denial on Telegram, stating that during the specified period the Defence Forces of Ukraine did not deploy unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Bryansk Oblast. Russian officials continued to attribute the attack to Ukrainian forces.
Both sides have stated they do not target civilians. The report could not be independently verified.
Russian authorities also referenced a separate accusation earlier this month, alleging that a drone strike on a bus in a Russian-controlled sector of the Donetsk region killed eight civilians and wounded 11. The current claim is part of a broader pattern of cross-border strikes reported since the war began in February 2022, during which Russia has struck Ukrainian towns including Kyiv, and Kyiv has increased strikes on targets inside Russia in recent months. Russian officials say those Ukrainian actions are intended to erode Moscow’s economy and pressure an end to the conflict, which they say has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths in Ukraine.
The incident in Bryansk adds to an ongoing cycle of allegations and denials over cross-border attacks. Russian investigators are continuing their inquiry into the bus explosion and the reported casualties, while Ukrainian military authorities maintain they did not conduct drone operations in the area at the time specified.