June 17, Pozirk. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has denied Ukrainian forces’ involvement in a drone attack that killed and wounded Belarusians, saying the army did not employ unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Russia’s Bryansk province when the bus was hit.
Seven people have been hospitalized, according to the latest reports, including one child in serious condition. The wife of a coach from the Rečyca sports school for children has been confirmed dead.
“We regard such reports as yet another information provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin,” the General Staff said in a statement. “Unable to achieve its declared objectives on the battlefield and suffering significant losses, the Russian Federation is increasingly resorting to information manipulation and the fabrication of accusations against Ukraine.”
Russian and Belarus’ pro-Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the attack, while but Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has pointed her finger at Russia, stressing that the aggressor country bears primary responsibility for every death and every injury related to its war on Ukraine.
“My heart goes out to all the victims and their families. The children and adults who were with them are innocent victims,” the politician noted on Telegram.
Cichanoŭskaja blamed officials “who irresponsibly sent children through the border zone of military operations.” The incident was not a “coincidence,” but a “deliberate decision by specific people in power who were indifferent to how the children would arrive on vacation,” she noted.
The Belarusian state propaganda is also responsible, as it has for years suppressed the truth about the war and Alaksandar Łukašenka’s complicity in it, painting a false image of a “peaceful sky” and security, the politician said. People will only feel safe when Russia ends the war, she stressed.
Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov accused Kyiv of a “deliberate and conscious” attack on the bus, which, in his opinion, “cannot be confused with military equipment.” “They knew exactly what they were doing,” he said.
Belarus’ pro-government Biełaja Ruś party described the incident as a “despicable and inhumane act of terrorism committed by Ukrainian armed groups against minors,” demanding “immediate international condemnation of this crime.”
The Belarusian foreign ministry strongly condemned the strike on a civilian bus with members of a children’s soccer team from the Homiel region.
“We regard this as yet another act of terrorism against the civilian population and demand a full explanation from the Ukrainian side,” said Minsk, which supports Russia in its war against Ukraine. The foreign ministry also warned Belarusians against traveling to conflict zones, areas of hostilities and adjacent regions, stressing the need to strictly follow procedures for organizing group travel abroad, especially for children’s health and recreation trips.
