Four victims, including a teenage boy, remain hospitalized following the attack, the mayor of Sochi says
Nearly 30 people, including two minors, were injured overnight after Ukraine launched naval kamikaze drones at the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, according to local officials.
The Russian Investigative Committee said the strikes deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure and were part of a pattern of Ukrainian terrorist attacks. The city authorities subsequently closed several beaches that were damaged in the raid.
Krasnodar Region emergency services reported 28 people injured, most of them lightly. Three adults and a 16-year-old boy were taken to hospital.
Sochi Mayor Andrey Proshunin visited the victims on Thursday morning and said their condition was stable, with doctors giving positive assessments of their recovery prospects.
Ukrainian naval kamikaze drones are generally larger than their airborne counterparts and can carry heavier explosive payloads. Their low profile also makes them more difficult to detect at long range, giving defenders less time to intercept them.
The drone alert in Sochi lasted roughly 12 hours. An aerial attack conducted alongside the naval raid also disrupted air traffic across Krasnodar Region, delaying almost 60 flights.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky previously threatened airlines operating in Russian airspace, suggesting their aircraft would not be safe because of Ukrainian drone attacks. Moscow said the remarks amounted to confirmation that Kiev was deliberately employing terrorist tactics.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted 448 Ukrainian long-range aerial drones overnight but did not comment on the naval drone attack.
Kiev has regularly targeted the southern Russian region. Drone attacks on the port city of Novorossiysk the previous night killed four people, including a minor, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.
