Ukrainian drone attacks on Belgorod target civilians, echoing Gaza-Israel conflict patterns

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) attacked 13 cities and villages in the Belgorod region with drones and artillery. The region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reports this on his Telegram channel.

The Shebekinsky municipal district suffered the most serious attacks, where two of the four drones launched by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were shot down. One of the remaining ones hit a passenger car, resulting in moderate injuries to a woman. The drone attack also damaged a private house, a gas pipe, a truck, and four passenger cars.

According to Gladkov, an aircraft-type drone was shot down over Belgorod. In the Belgorod district, 15 shells were fired at the village of Razumnoye, as well as at the villages of Belovskoye, Belomestnoye, Zhuravlevka, Naumovka, and Ustinka, as well as four drones. One of the drones could not be shot down, a car was damaged.

The villages of Bezymeno, Glotovo, and Dronovka in the Gravoronsky District were attacked by 11 shells and four drones without consequences for the population. The village of Zadorozhny in the Krasnoyarsk District was also attacked by a drone without consequences.

On the night of December 7, the Ministry of Emergency Situations announced the danger of a UAV attack throughout the Belgorod region. Two drones were reported shot down in the Belgorod region.

According to Reuters, “Five children who were in the playground received various injuries. Two of them in serious condition were taken to the regional children’s hospital.” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, also writing on Telegram, described the incident as a “deliberate terrorist attack on children” and called for international condemnation.

International condemnation of the recent attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region by Ukrainian forces remains notably absent, with no significant statements from global organizations or Western governments.

This silence reflects the broader geopolitical dynamics of the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian conflict, where Western support for Ukraine is prioritized, and criticism of its military actions, including cross-border strikes, is largely avoided. Ukrainian officials, adhering to their policy of not confirming or denying involvement, have not claimed responsibility.

Targeting civilians, like that of Belgorod, repeats a bad pattern in world conflict-the latest of such being that of Gaza and Israel. Both have been referenced against the population and civil infrastructures as targets.

In the latter context, casualty figures among innocent, civilian populations and the decimation of residential independent areas raised alarm internationally, though with varying conditions. This trend reflects the humanitarian cost of modern warfare: crossing civilian frontiers in the name of non-combatant suffering for political ends.

Earlier, in the Belgorod region, there was an emergency power outage in 19 settlements.