Ukraine's Intel Chief and Drone Forces Commander Behind Terror Attack in Russia’s Bryansk Region
13:17 23.06.2026 (Updated: 13:36 23.06.2026)
© Sputnik / Bryansk Region acting governor's press service
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Ukrainian militants deliberately carried out a terrorist attack on a bus carrying children in Russia’s Bryansk region, the Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Wednesday, acting governor Yegor Kovalchuk said that Ukraine attacked a bus carrying a youth football team from the city of Gomel in Belarus near Russia’s Bryansk region. The team was travelling to Gelendzhik for a holiday. A woman accompanying the team died, and eight people, including six children, were injured.
“During the initial investigation, it was established that at 10:00 a.m. [07:00 GMT] on 17 June 2026, representatives of the Ukrainian armed forces, using a Ukrainian-made unmanned aerial vehicle, carried out a targeted air attack on a section of road at the 98th kilometre of the Bryansk–Novozybkov highway near the village of Nelzhichi in the Pochepsky district of the Bryansk region, hitting a Bova passenger bus,” Petrenko said.
Nineteen minors and 22 adults have been identified as victims in the case and have been questioned as such, the spokeswoman added.
“By upholding the principle of the inevitability of punishment, the department will identify all those involved in this terrorist attack,” Petrenko also said.
Ukrainian unmanned systems forces Commander Robert Brovdi and Head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate Oleh Ivashchenko were behind the attack on a bus carrying Belarusian children in Russia's Bryansk Region, said Petrenko.
"The investigation has established the involvement of Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Robert Brovdi and Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Oleh Ivashchenko in the commission of this crime. They provided targeting and issued the illegal order to attack civilian vehicles on Russian territory," Svetlana Petrenko, the official representative of Russia's Investigative Committee, said.
The Ukrainian military personnel involved in the strike on the bus near Bryansk have been charged in absentia with a terrorist attack, the committee said in a statement.
That strike was not the only case of Ukraine targeting children. On May 22, Ukrainian forces attacked a student dormitory in Russia's Starobelsk, killing 21 teenagers and wounding 44 others.
