Moscow Says 308 Civilians Affected by Ukrainian Attacks in One Week
Dragon Media News Desk
Russia has said that 308 civilians were affected by Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks between June 29 and July 5, including 38 people who were killed.
According to a weekly report released by Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik, 270 people, including eight children, were injured during the period. Those killed included one child, the Russian side said.
Miroshnik claimed that Ukrainian forces used at least 4,917 munitions and attack systems against civilian targets on Russian territory during the seven-day period.
According to him, the strikes targeted residential areas, civilian vehicles, social facilities, energy infrastructure and other non-military sites.
He accused the Ukrainian side of seeking to increase civilian casualties, create fear among the population and make normal life increasingly difficult in border and conflict-affected areas.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s account said drones pursued civilian vehicles travelling on intercity roads, while residential communities, markets, passenger buses and energy infrastructure were also attacked.
Among the major incidents included in the weekly report was a drone strike on a market in the city of Tokmak in the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region.
According to local Russian authorities, five civilians were killed and 18 others were injured in the attack.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned the strike as a serious crime against civilians.
The Russian side said the Tokmak market was used by local residents for daily shopping and that there were no military facilities at the site.
The weekly report also referred to a drone strike on a passenger bus carrying tourists from Belarus through Russia’s Bryansk Region.
The bus was travelling from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to the Russian resort city of Anapa on July 2 when it was struck after crossing the Russian border.
Publicly available information indicated that the bus was carrying 19 passengers and two drivers. Both drivers were reportedly injured.
Russian and Belarusian officials said another bus carrying a Belarusian children’s football team had been attacked in the Bryansk Region around two weeks earlier.
Moscow described the latest incident as the second attack involving a vehicle carrying Belarusian civilians.
Russian officials argued that strikes on passenger buses, public transport and private vehicles appeared intended to frighten civilians rather than achieve a legitimate military objective.
Russia’s human rights authorities have informed the United Nations about attacks on the Belarusian passenger bus, a municipal bus in Lisichansk, the Tokmak market and private vehicles in Rylsk in the Kursk Region.
Russian official Yana Lantratova sent letters to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and the UN special representative on children and armed conflict, requesting an international legal assessment of the incidents.
The weekly report also highlighted the death of a six-month-old infant after a drone struck a private residence in Yegoryevsk in the Moscow Region.
Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said a fire broke out at the house after the drone incident during the night of June 30.
Two adults and two children were rescued from the damaged building. The six-month-old infant died while being transported to hospital, while the other injured people were admitted for treatment.
Miroshnik described the incidents not as isolated events but as part of what he called a growing and systematic series of attacks on civilian areas.
According to him, the risk to civilians has increased in the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Moscow, as well as in the Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson.
The Russian side has accused Ukraine’s military and political leadership of deliberately targeting civilian areas and has described such attacks as acts of terrorism.
Miroshnik used strong political language in his statement when referring to the authorities and armed forces in Kiev. Those expressions represent the official assessment of the Russian government.
Russia says it regularly collects information on weapons used against civilian targets, locations of attacks, deaths and injuries before presenting the evidence to international organisations.
Moscow has also said it is documenting the alleged use of foreign-made drones, missiles and artillery systems against civilian areas.
Independent and immediate verification of incidents in active combat zones and border territories remains difficult.
The weekly total of 308 affected civilians and the figure of 4,917 munitions are therefore based primarily on information gathered by Russian government agencies, local administrations, medical institutions and investigative authorities.
The figures represent the official account of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow has described attacks on civilians and non-military infrastructure as violations of international humanitarian law and has urged the United Nations and other international organisations to respond clearly.
The Russian side maintains that those providing direct or indirect assistance for attacks on civilian transport, markets, residential buildings, medical institutions and energy systems should also bear responsibility for the consequences.
The latest weekly report indicates that the geographical scope of long-range drone and missile strikes is expanding alongside fighting on the frontline.
As the effects of the conflict increasingly reach civilian areas, the protection of non-combatants, control of military escalation and the search for a possible diplomatic settlement are becoming more difficult.
