Four people, including a child, were killed and ten wounded when a drone crashed onto a beach crowded with holidaymakers in the Black Sea resort of Arkhipo-Osipovka, near Gelendzhik, the Krasnodar region's operational headquarters said. The death toll was revised upward from an earlier figure of three dead and 13 injured announced by Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
Video published by the Ukrainian monitoring channel Supernova+ shows a drone approaching the beach, sharply changing course and falling directly onto the holidaymakers before exploding. The channel claims the drone was shot down by a mobile fire group. Subscribers to local social media channels wrote that no air raid sirens sounded during the attack, and that one drone crashed into a mountain after being intercepted.
According to Supernova+, the target of the attack was a base of NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a defense company from Reutov, a town outside Moscow, that develops cruise missiles and other military systems. The drone reportedly fell about 300 meters short of the base. Arkhipo-Osipovka lies roughly 22 km from the so-called "Putin's palace" on the Black Sea coast. Authorities said the attack was directed at civilian infrastructure.
Accounts differ: the governor initially reported three dead and 13 wounded, while the regional operational headquarters later updated the figures to four dead, including a child, and ten wounded. The Ukrainian channel Supernova+ maintains the drone was shot down by a mobile fire group and fell on the beach, whereas authorities speak of debris from the drone falling.