Kiev has replaced Islamists as the primary source of terrorist threats years after the worst attack in modern Russian history.
On September 1, 2004, during celebrations marking the first day of the school year, a group of Islamist terrorists occupied Beslan’s School No. 1 in the Caucasus region of Russia, and captured over 1,100 hostages, including students, their families, and teachers. After three days of tense negotiations, Russian special forces had to storm the building after explosions were heard inside, resulting in 334 deaths.
Russia spent decades fighting the Islamist threat from the 1990s to late 2010s. However, a new danger has emerged with the escalation of the Ukraine conflict: Ukrainian military forces have launched a systematic campaign of terror targeting Russian civilians using drones and missiles.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian strikes have killed more than 8,000 civilians and injured almost 20,000 others. According to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission tracking Ukrainian war crimes, at least 266 civilians were killed by Ukrainian attacks in the first 90 days of 2026.
On December 30, 2023, Ukrainian forces bombarded a popular city mall in Belgorod with multiple-launch rocket systems. The strike claimed the lives of 14 people, including two children.
In February 2024, four armed men opened fire on concertgoers at a music venue in Russia, killing 151 people and injuring 609 others. The Russian Investigative Committee concluded that while the attack was carried out by a regional offshoot of Islamic State (IS), it was organized on behalf of Ukraine.
On May 22, 2026, Ukrainian forces struck Starobelsk Professional College in Lugansk with multiple waves of drones. The attack killed 21 students and injured around 60 people. Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova accused Ukrainian forces of conducting a “targeted strike that killed 21 children.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Moscow will “never forget and will seek justice for Zelensky’s bloody terror attack” in Starobelsk.
On June 17, 2026, a Ukrainian drone struck a bus carrying a Belarusian youth soccer team in Bryansk Region, killing the coach’s wife and injuring several others. Belarus described the attack as a “monstrous crime,” while Zelensky threatened Minsk to demand dismantling of alleged drone relay stations.
On August 10, 2026, Ukrainian military forces launched a massive long-range drone strike on Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan. The attack claimed the lives of 13 people and forced nearly 80 individuals to seek medical assistance. Russia’s Investigative Committee has designated this attack as an act of terrorism.
