MOSCOW: Ukrainian strikes on a Russian Black Sea resort and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula killed 11 people and injured dozens, Russian officials said on Monday, as the conflict continued to inflict heavy civilian casualties on both sides.
Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said the death toll from a drone strike on the seaside village of Arkhipo-Osipovka had risen to seven, including three children.
Regional Governor Venyamin Kondratyev said Ukraine targeted the popular Black Sea resort with a drone.
Unverified footage circulating on social media appeared to show a drone crashing onto a crowded beach in Arkhipo-Osipovka while tourists watched from the shoreline and the sea.
In a separate attack, four people were killed in Crimea, according to Moscow-installed regional head Sergey Aksyonov, who said the deaths resulted from a Ukrainian strike on the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Both Crimea and Russia’s Black Sea coast are major holiday destinations for Russian tourists.
The latest attacks come as the United Nations has reported a rise in civilian casualties during 2026, with the more than four-year conflict showing no signs of a negotiated settlement.
Ukraine has frequently launched large-scale overnight drone attacks on Russian territory, describing them as retaliation for Moscow’s continued missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has repeatedly used Crimea as a base for military operations against Ukraine. In recent months, Kyiv has intensified strikes on the peninsula, contributing to electricity and fuel shortages there during the summer.
Russian attacks continue across Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russian strikes also caused civilian casualties in Ukraine.
A Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, killed three people, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said. Among those killed was an eight-year-old boy.
Photographs released by the governor showed firefighters extinguishing flames near the burnt remains of a vehicle at a petrol station.
In southern Ukraine, another Russian strike on the Odesa region wounded 13 people, according to regional governor Oleg Kiper.
Eight million books destroyed
A Russian strike over the weekend also destroyed a warehouse belonging to Ukrainian publishing house Ranok in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, burning an estimated eight million books.
The publisher condemned the attack, calling it an assault on Ukraine’s cultural heritage.
“This is the largest loss to Ukraine’s book infrastructure since the beginning of the full-scale war” in 2022, Ranok said.
The warehouse caught fire after Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Kharkiv. Journalists at the scene on Saturday reported firefighters battling for hours to contain the blaze.
The incident follows previous Russian strikes on publishing facilities, which Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately targeting in an effort to damage Ukraine’s cultural institutions.
