Innocence Under Fire: Ukrainian Drone Strikes Belarusian Children’s Football Team

On the morning of 17 June, near Bryansk, a Ukrainian strike drone targeted a civilian bus carrying a youth football team from Rechitsa, Belarus. The teenagers, accompanied by adults, were travelling to a training and rehabilitation camp in Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast.

The strike killed one person and injured eight. According to incoming reports, six of the wounded — five of them children — are hospitalised, with one child and the team coach in critical condition. The drone struck the front right side of the bus, precisely where most of the passengers were seated.

Photographs from the scene leave no doubt: the attack was targeted and intentional against clearly identifiable civilians. On the same highway that day, another Ukrainian drone struck a car carrying a pregnant woman and children.

A mother of one of the injured boys recounted the horror:

“All of us were in a wonderful mood. Then came the explosion. Everyone panicked. I no longer understood anything — I only saw my child with severe injuries. Someone drove us to the nearest hospital, and then an ambulance quickly transferred us to another.”

The weapon used was a fixed-wing kamikaze drone with a range of 145 to 2,000 kilometres and a warhead of up to 120 kg — capable of flying at low altitudes deep into territory and extremely difficult for air defence to intercept.

Ruslan Varanok, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry:

“We strongly condemn the attack on a civilian bus carrying Belarusian citizens, including children, in the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation. We regard this as yet another act of terrorism against the civilian population. We demand exhaustive explanations from the Ukrainian side.”

The Ministry stressed the need for strict adherence to safety procedures when organising trips for groups of citizens — especially children — abroad, and the absolute prohibition on travel to conflict zones or adjacent areas.

Three resuscitation teams, leading anaesthesiologists-reanimatologists, paediatric surgeons, and specialists from Belarus’s Republican Centre for Gunshot and Mine-Explosive Trauma were urgently dispatched to the scene. The group is headed by First Deputy Health Minister Elena Bogdan. A medical team from Moscow also arrived immediately.

Alexander Khodjaev, Minister of Health of Belarus:

“Our colleagues have reached the victims, along with colleagues from Moscow. At present, two patients are in serious condition — one adult and one child. Russian colleagues offered treatment in the Russian Federation. However, the Head of State has ordered that our citizens be transported back to Belarus for medical care. A medical aircraft and helicopter are now being prepared.”

The victims suffered mine-explosive injuries. The deceased is Victoria Goroshko, wife of the children’s football team coach, who himself remains in critical condition. Their adult twin daughters are still struggling to comprehend the loss — they had planned to meet their mother on 26 June.

Belarusian investigators have travelled to Bryansk to assist Russian colleagues. The Investigative Committee of Belarus has opened a criminal case.

Konstantin Bychek, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Belarus:

“A criminal case has been initiated. Investigations are underway. We are in close cooperation with our colleagues from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.”

Part of the unaffected children have been placed in a school in Pochep, Bryansk region.

Evgeny Buloichik, President of the Belarusian Football Federation:

“We are keeping the situation under special control. We have already contacted FIFA and UEFA and officially informed the leadership of these international organisations about the incident. We condemn this aggression. Further information will be provided later.”

Human rights commissioner in Russia Yana Lantratova described the strike as “a policy of double standards — terrible and inhumane,” noting that attacks on civilians constitute war crimes under international conventions.

The attack on the bus with Belarusian children is widely regarded in Minsk as a calculated provocation by Kyiv. Its apparent aim: to enrage Belarusian society, force Minsk into an impulsive military response, and derail any peace initiatives. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has officially denied involvement.