Twelve people were killed, including five children, in an overnight drone ‌attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-installed local authorities said on Saturday, accusing Ukraine of deliberately attacking civilians.

Kyiv did ​not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both Russia ​and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war launched ⁠by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Nineteen people were wounded ​in the attack on the resort area of Kyrylivka, located on ​the coast of the Sea of Azov near the town of Melitopol, said Russian-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Ukrainian drones carried out ​the attack on "sleeping people" at the camp. She denounced "inhuman crimes", ​also referring to an attack on a factory in Russia's Kirov region on ‌Thursday ⁠which killed six people.

A video posted online of the holiday camp showed shattered buildings, burned-out cars and a pile of rubble next to a swimming pool.

Balitsky said crews from Russia's Emergencies Ministry ​had extracted two ​survivors, including a ⁠child, and recovered another body from the rubble. He added that rescue operations had been completed.

"The ​enemy saw and understood who it was targeting," ​he said ⁠on the Telegram messaging app.

Balitsky said authorities in Kyiv were "ignoring any norms of morality and deliberately destroying the civilian population — adults and ⁠children".

Russia's ​Investigative Committee opened a terrorism case ​in response to the attack, the Russian state news agency RIA said.


-Reuters