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The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has denied using drones in Russia’s Bryansk Region at the time the attack on the bus occurred. The Ukrainian side described reports that a Ukrainian drone struck the bus as a provocation.
“Statements by representatives of the russian federation alleging that a Ukrainian Armed Forces unmanned aerial vehicle struck a bus carrying a children’s football team in Bryansk Oblast are false.
We emphasize that during the specified period, the Defence Forces of Ukraine did not employ unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Bryansk Oblast,” the General Staff said in a statement.
Ukraine considers the Russian claims to be an information provocation.
“We regard such reports as yet another information provocation orchestrated by the kremlin. 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,” the General Staff said.
The Ukrainian military strikes only legitimate military targets, the statement added.
As previously reported, a bus carrying 28 children from the football team of Rechytsa Youth Sports School No. 2 came under a drone strike in Bryansk Region on June 17. The Russian Investigative Committee said the drone was Ukrainian. The coach’s wife, who was accompanying the team, was killed in the strike. Eight people, including six children, were injured.