Ukrainian drone kills one child, injures two in playground in Russia's Belgorod region

A Ukrainian drone strike in Russia's Belgorod region killed one child and injured two others, with a top Russian official denouncing the incident as an "inhumane terrorist act".

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one ​child and injured two others on ​Sunday in a playground ‌in ​the Russian border region of Belgorod, the acting regional governor said, with a top Russian rights official denouncing ‌the incident as an "inhumane terrorist act". Belgorod Governor Alexander Shavayev, in a message posted on Telegram, said the drone hit an area adjacent to the playground in ‌the village of Printsevka, near the Ukrainian border.

Medics were unable to ‌save a 13-year-old girl who suffered serious injuries, Shavayev said. Two girls, ages 7 and 9, were being treated in hospital. Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, was quoted by Russian ⁠news ​agencies as saying ⁠that the strike near the playground was "another inhumane terrorist act by the Kyiv regime".

The International Criminal ⁠Court has issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the ​alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting children from areas of Ukraine occupied ⁠by Russian forces. Russia rejects the allegations.

There was no immediate response from Ukraine's Defence Ministry to a ⁠request ​for comment on the latest incident. There have been other strikes near playgrounds that killed children in the conflict that began with Russia's ⁠invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In April 2025, a Russian missile strike on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's ⁠home city ⁠of Kryvyi Rih in southeastern Ukraine sprayed shrapnel across a dense residential area, including a playground, killing 11 adults and ‌nine children.