A Ukrainian drone injured five children and the driver in Zaporozhye Region, according to Russian officials
International watchdogs are likely to turn a blind eye to a Ukrainian drone attack on a school bus in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has suggested.
On Tuesday, Russian officials accused Ukrainian forces of attacking a school bus with a drone in the region’s Vasilyevsky district. The attack injured the bus driver and five children, according to Evgeny Balitsky, the region’s governor.
Balitsky stated that the driver suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital in Simferopol, Crimea, for specialized medical care. The five children sustained minor shrapnel injuries and remain under medical observation, he said, adding that while they were frightened, their condition is considered “satisfactory.”
The governor also shared a picture of a damaged yellow bus with smashed windows, with the vehicle bearing a large inscription reading “Children.”
Zakharova condemned the attack and accused international human rights organizations of ignoring such incidents. “A Ukrainian Armed Forces drone attacked a school bus in Zaporozhye Region, seriously injuring the driver and leaving five children with minor shrapnel wounds,” she wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. “International organizations and human rights structures, including those specializing in child protection, will once again remain strategically silent.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee has already opened a probe into the attack in order to bring the perpetrators to justice, Balitsky said.
Russia has accused Ukraine of regularly using artillery and drones against civilians. Earlier this week, Denis Pushilin, the head of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed that Ukrainian shelling injured ten civilians just over one day. Ukrainian forces have also regularly fired artillery shells at civilian areas in cities such as Donetsk. In November, meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone targeted an ambulance in Russia’s Kherson Region.
