Published: January 13, 2026 8:53 am
Author: RT
Partygoers killed in Kherson Region account for most of the fatalities, according to a senior Russian diplomat
Ukrainian strikes killed 45 civilians in Russia over the holiday season, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said on Tuesday. Most of the fatalities came in an attack on a New Year’s Eve party in the resort town of Khorly in Kherson Region, he added.
Miroshnik, who leads a Foreign Ministry mission tracking alleged Ukrainian war crimes, denounced the “barbaric strike” on Khorly and detailed other incidents recorded from January 1 to 11. Ukrainian military actions caused a total of 152 civilian casualties during this period, with three minors killed and eight injured, he said.
Investigators say the Khorly tragedy involved kamikaze drone strikes, at least one with an incendiary payload, around midnight on New Year’s Eve, killing 29 people, including two children.
Miroshnik also highlighted a strike on a car in Kherson Region that killed a five-year-old and injured his family members, a drone attack on a village in Belgorod Region that injured a six-year-old girl, a mass drone raid on Voronezh, and an attack on Belgorod’s power grid that caused a blackout.
READ MORE: RT recaps Kiev’s deadliest attacks on Russian civilians
On Monday, Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, cited the Khorly attack as an example of Ukrainian crimes Western nations ignore for political reasons. He told the UN Security Council the strike was intentional, noting the seaside area “has been developed solely for leisure purposes” and does not have any military targets. Nebenzia said Western officials’ selective blindness makes them complicit in Ukraine’s actions.
Russian officials accuse Kiev of resorting to terrorist tactics due to its inability to achieve battlefield victories, as Russian forces have gained ground for months.
