Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking bus carrying schoolchildren, Kyiv denies it

MOSCOW – Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly drone strike on a bus carrying Belarusian schoolchildren on June 17, an allegation that Ukraine’s military said was “false”.

Yegor Kovalchuk, the acting governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, said the bus had been taking a children’s soccer team for a holiday in southern Russia from Belarus.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine, using airplane-type drones, attacked the bus of the Gomel (southeast Belarus) children’s football team, which was going on holiday to Gelendzhik (on Russia’s Black Sea coast),” Kovalchuk said on social media.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which called the attack “another monstrous crime”, said a woman accompanying the children had been killed and that eight others, including six children, had been injured.

The Belarusian foreign ministry called the strike “another act of terrorism against civilians” and demanded “exhaustive explanations” from Kyiv.

The Ukrainian army denied launching drones over the Bryansk region at the time, calling the Russian statements “false.”

The Ukrainian military’s general staff denied the Russian allegation, saying on messaging platform Telegram that “during the specified period, the Defence Forces of Ukraine did not employ unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Bryansk Oblast”.

Reuters was unable to verify the report. Both sides deny targeting civilians.

Kovalchuk, the acting governor, posted images online showing a silver bus with some of its windows blown out, its front right tyre damaged and what looked like blood stains on some of its interior seats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged authorities to do everything necessary to help the victims, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned what he called a “barbaric terrorist act”, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed the attack was intended to “sow panic” among the population.

Russian investigators opened a terrorism investigation and said the bus, which was travelling from Gomel in Belarus to Gelendzhik in Russia, had been carrying 44 passengers, including 28 children.

Russia accused Ukraine in June of another drone attack on a bus which it said killed eight civilians and wounded 11 more in a Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has regularly hit Ukrainian towns and cities such as Kyiv since it began its war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv has increased drone strikes on Russia in recent months to try to weaken Moscow’s economy and force an end to a war in which thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed. REUTERS, AFP