There ​was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which, like Russia, says it does not ​deliberately target civilians in the full-scale war which Moscow launched in ⁠2022.

Social media videos, verified by Reuters, showed what appears to be a drone slamming ​into a busy beach area near the town of Gelendzhik, accompanied by a loud ​explosion.

Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region where Gelendzhik is located, called what had happened a tragedy. He said 17 people were being rushed to hospital.

“What happened today was a deliberate attack by ​the Kyiv regime on the civilian population, which has no connection whatsoever to military ​infrastructure,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region which includes the resort, said in a statement ‌on Telegram.

A specialist medical disaster team had been dispatched to the scene of the explosion at the holiday village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, part of the wider Gelendzhik resort area, local authorities said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was cited by the TASS state news agency ​as accusing Ukraine of ​resorting to terrorism.

Russia ⁠last month accused Kyiv’s forces of killing 11 people, including four children, in an attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part ​of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

Russia itself has repeatedly struck targets in ​Kyiv and ⁠other Ukrainian cities, displacing millions and laying waste to swathes of Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have so far died in the war, most of them Ukrainians killed in Russian attacks.

Ukraine ⁠has stepped ​up long-range attacks deep into Russia in recent ​months, mainly targeting oil refineries and e-commerce warehouses, in what it says is a campaign to make Russians ​feel the cost of the war.