(ARKHIPO-OSIPOVKA, KRASNODAR KRAI) – A drone exploded on a crowded beach in southern Russia on 4 August, killing seven people, including three children, and injuring 40 others.
Footage verified by the BBC shows the drone hurtling towards a cliffside before detonating in a fireball on the beach below, as tourists watched from the shore and the water.
The governor of Krasnodar Krai accused Ukraine of “a deliberate strike on civilians”. Russia’s foreign ministry described the incident as an act of terrorism. Ukraine has not commented on the strike.
Witnesses quoted by Russian media reported hearing gunfire before the explosion, indicating the drone may have been shot down by air defences. Some Ukrainian Telegram channels claimed the drone crashed due to electronic warfare jamming its signal. No air raid sirens were heard in the area.
The attack occurred at a popular holiday beach near the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka on the Black Sea coast. The region, known for its warm climate and developed tourist infrastructure, has become an increasingly vital domestic destination for Russians as international sanctions have curtailed overseas travel.
In recent months, Ukraine has demonstrated increasing success in carrying out long-range strikes deep into Russian territory, hitting energy infrastructure and commercial warehouses it claims are used for military purposes. These strikes have caused civilian deaths, with eight people killed in various Russian cities the previous weekend.
Russia has repeatedly launched attacks on residential areas and cities since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, killing and injuring many civilians.
Recent Ukrainian strikes have targeted depots belonging to Wildberries, a major online retailer often called the “Russian Amazon”. Kyiv maintains that Wildberries warehouses are used to supply the Russian military, a claim Moscow denies.
During the incident, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was attending a youth forum in Siberia, thousands of miles away, and made no immediate comment.
On the same day, a Russian strike on a petrol station in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region killed three people, including an eight-year-old boy. A funeral was also held for a family of five wiped out by a Russian missile strike the previous week. Three coffins were present for the parents and one child; five other children from the family remain unaccounted for.
The drone footage was verified and reported by BBC News.
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