Gazeta Lodz - Russia says Ukraine drone hit bus carrying Belarusian children

Ukraine's army dismissed the Russian statements as "false."

The strike in the region bordering Ukraine also wounded seven people, including five children, all of whom were taken to hospital, Russia's healthcare ministry said.

Russian authorities did not say how old the children were. Photos from a Belarusian TV channel showed a grey bus with shrapnel holes on one side, with some of the windows blown out.

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up drone strikes on Russia in retaliation for Moscow's almost daily air raids since the beginning of the four-year war.

"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)," Bryansk region acting governor Yegor Kovalchuk said on social media.

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."

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

Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, opened a terrorism probe. It said the bus had been carrying 44 passengers, 28 of them children.

Belarus, which borders Ukraine and NATO's eastern flank countries, is closely allied with Russia. Minsk has had tense relations with Kyiv ever since Moscow used its territory as a launching pad for the 2022 full-scale offensive.

On Monday, a massive Russian drone and missile barrage killed 11 people across Ukraine and damaged a UNESCO-listed monastery in Kyiv.

Talks on ending the war remain deadlocked, while fighting at the front has been at a standstill.

V.Staniszewski--GL