July 25 (Reuters) – Russian authorities said 11 people including four children had been killed by Ukraine in an overnight attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, accusing Kyiv on Saturday of deliberately attacking civilians.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war launched by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russian-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said another 16 people had been wounded in the attack on the resort area of Kyrylivka, which lies on the coast of the Azov Sea near the town of Melitopol.
“The enemy saw and understood who it was targeting,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
UKRAINE SAYS IT HIT RUSSIAN REFINERY AND OIL PLATFORM
Ukraine said on Saturday its drones had hit a Russian oil platform in the Caspian Sea and an oil refinery in Siberia, while both Kyiv and Moscow said they had struck ships carrying military cargo.
The energy targets lie over 700 km and 2,000 km (430 miles and 1,250 miles) from Ukrainian territory, underscoring the increasing reach of Kyiv’s campaign to use long-range drones to undermine Russia’s war effort and pressure the Kremlin to make peace.
Ukraine struck the Filanovsky oil platform belonging to Russia’s Lukoil, its SBU security service said. Lukoil did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The platform is part of Russia’s largest Caspian oil field.
Local authorities in the Siberian region of Tyumen confirmed that a Ukrainian drone had caused a fire at the region’s refinery. They did not say if output had been disrupted.
Both sides have increasingly targeted shipping as they seek to derail military logistics and supply lines far from the battlefield.
UKRAINE AND RUSSIA BOTH ATTACK SHIPS
Elsewhere in the Caspian, Ukrainian drones attacked two cargo vessels – Port Olya 2 and Begey – believed to be involved in military cargo shipments between Russia and Iran, the SBU said. Russia’s transport ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia and Iran have deepened military cooperation since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Tehran supplying drones and drone technology that Russia has used extensively in the war, according to Western governments and Kyiv.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers this week that Russia and China were supporting Iran in its war against the U.S. in ways he would not specify. However, President Donald Trump said he trusted both countries not to help Iran.
In the Black Sea, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its drones had hit a bulk carrier delivering military cargo for the Ukrainian army.
In a separate daily report, the ministry said it had targeted Ukrainian logistics centres, production and storage sites for long-range drones, as well as energy, transport, and port infrastructure. It did not give further details.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Yuliia Dysa and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
