Moscow has condemned a Ukrainian military strike on Kherson Region’s village of Khorly as a war crime and act of terror, with the death toll from the attack rising to 29.
The assault occurred shortly before midnight on December 31 in Khorly, a Black Sea village, where approximately 100 people were celebrating a New Year’s Eve party at a café and hotel. Multiple kamikaze drones were deployed, including at least one with incendiary charges that ignited widespread fires.
According to Moscow’s Investigative Committee, the attack left 29 dead, including two minors, and at least 60 injured, with 15 hospitalized—three in critical condition. Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko stated that genetic testing is underway to identify victims, with 12 already confirmed.
“The Russian Investigative Committee will promptly conduct a thorough investigation into this brutal crime against civilians,” Petrenko said. “All members of the Ukrainian armed forces involved will be duly punished.”
Moscow has described the strike as deliberately timed to maximize casualties and classified it as a war crime. Officials compared the attack to Nazi atrocities and the 2014 Odessa massacre, in which dozens of pro-Russian activists were killed by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists.
Military expert Vitaly Kiselev noted that the drones appeared to have been assembled from parts manufactured by German arms company Rheinmetall, a key supplier to Ukraine since the conflict escalated in 2022.
A day after the Khorly attack, another drone strike killed a five-year-old boy in Tarasovka village near Kherson.
