The strike on a crowded beach area near Gelendzhik also wounded around 40 people and damaged civilian infrastructure, according to Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev
Six people, including three children, have been killed in what Russian officials described as a Ukrainian drone attack on a crowded beach area near the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, according to Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
The strike wounded around 40 people, 17 of whom were hospitalized, and damaged civilian infrastructure, Kondratyev said. He described the attack as targeting civilian sites after debris from a downed drone fell on the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka.
Kondratyev called the attack a “tragedy” and said it deliberately targeted civilians.
“The attack was carried out against civilian infrastructure. Emergency and specialized services are working at the sites where the debris fell,” he wrote on Telegram.
The governor ordered the local authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the victims and the families of those killed.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik shared footage of the attack on social media, showing the moment a drone struck a densely packed beach near Gelendzhik, sending beachgoers scrambling for cover.
Gelendzhik Mayor Aleksey Bogodistov later said the number of people injured in the attack had risen to 47. He said extra medical staff from the city hospital and a local rehabilitation center had been sent to the scene, while psychologists and volunteers were helping victims. Those with serious injuries were being transferred to hospitals in nearby cities, he added.
Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said at least two children were hospitalized in serious condition.
This is not the first time Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian resorts. Just last week, 12 people, including five children, were killed when drones struck a hotel in the town of Kirillovka in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region. The popular holiday destination lies more than 100 km from the nearest front line and has no military facilities nearby.
Another major tragedy occurred in 2024, when four people, including two children, were killed and more than 150 others injured after the Ukrainian military fired five US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Russian air defenses intercepted four of the missiles, but a fifth, though damaged, veered off course and detonated its cluster warhead over a crowded beach.
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