Drone Strikes Russian Beach, Kills 7 Including 3 Children
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- Russia's Krasnodar region reported that a drone struck a beach in Gelendzhik on Monday, killing 7 people — including 3 children — and wounding 58, with the explosion captured on video and verified by NBC News.
- Governor Veniamin Kondratyev called it 'a deliberate strike by the Kyiv regime against the civilian population' and a 'terrorist act targeting children,' and Russia retaliated with what NBC described as 'a barrage of aerial strikes' on its neighbor.
- Ukraine's Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the National Security and Defense Council's counter-disinformation center, claimed Russian air defense shot down a drone onto beachgoers and blamed Putin for starting a war that put Russian civilians at risk.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that between July 24 and July 31, at least 61 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in Ukrainian shelling and drone strikes on Russian territory.
- Ukraine recorded at least 377 civilians killed by Russian missile, drone, and bomb attacks in July alone — the highest monthly figure since April 2022, according to Ukrainian officials cited by NBC.
- Turkey called on both sides to improve navigational safety in the Black Sea after a Turkish-owned vessel was hit, following a similar appeal from India last month after its nationals were killed in attacks on ships often staffed by non-Ukrainian, non-Russian crews.
- Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko reported a separate strike on a warehouse in the Leningrad region early Tuesday.
Why it matters: The Gelendzhik strike gives Moscow fresh ammunition for its 'terrorism' framing: Russian officials explicitly labeled the attack on children a war crime, then retaliated with a barrage of strikes on Ukraine the same day — and Ukrainian officials report July was the deadliest month for their civilians since April 2022.
