Ukrainian drone attack kills three teenagers in Russia’s Krasnodar, officials say

Aug 24 (Reuters) – Three teenagers were killed and another eight people, including seven children, were wounded after drone debris hit a private childcare centre in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, Russian officials said.

In a post on Telegram, Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said that three teenagers, aged 13, 15 and 16, had been killed, with six more children hospitalised. Local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that two adults had also been wounded.

Kondratyev said in a statement on Telegram that the deaths had occurred after drone debris struck a private children’s centre in Krasnodar city.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

The attack came as Ukraine attacked several logistics centres belonging to Russian online retailer Ozon, including in the town of Enem, close to Krasnodar city.

Ozon said it had also evacuated warehouses in the neighbouring Adygea and Stavropol regions, while another warehouse in Dagestan had come under attack.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on logistics hubs and warehouses across Russia, bringing the war which Russia started in February 2022 closer to ordinary Russians, some of whom make their living from selling goods online. 

In comments published on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Kyiv had opened a “Pandora’s box” with its strikes on Russian economic targets and that Moscow would hit back at Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors”.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians.

More than 16,000 civilians have been killed in nearly four-and-a-half years of fighting, according to the United Nations, the overwhelming majority of them Ukrainian.

(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Stephen Coates Editing by Alex Richardson)