Four people have died after a drone smashed into a Russian beach, just miles from Putin's secretive palace. Beachgoers hid under sun loungers as they saw the Ukrainian unmanned aircraft crash into the ground in Arkhipo-Osipovka, a resort on the Black Sea. A young child was reportedly among those killed in the huge explosion.
Witnesses describe chaos and fear
Footage captured by a sunbather shows the drone careering into a cliff as swimmers watch on in the 29C heat. A large ball of flames erupted from the crashed drone, followed seconds later by a loud bang. No warning sirens appeared to alert the public to the impending blast, but the local mayor Alexey Bogodistov had issued a drone threat at 8.34am before cancelling it within ten minutes.
Air defence machine gunners were heard firing to try and to bring down the UAV as beachgoers fled. One said: 'We were on the beach, didn't have time to leave, hid behind a ledge, covered ourselves with sun loungers, and didn't see where it exploded.'
Another witness to the crash said: 'While we were parking, we saw crowds of people leaving the beach, cars driving away. A friend called me and said we had to turn around and leave because a drone had crashed. We saw a man with a bloody shoulder.'
Official response and speculation
Krasnodar's regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev suggested that it was debris that crashed after the drone was downed by air defence systems. 'I extend my sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. Thirteen others were injured', he said.
The drone's target remains unclear, however the crash site was just 17 miles from 'Putin's Palace' in Gelendzhi. The area has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drones.
The palace and its history
The palace's existence first became known following an open letter from whistleblower Sergei Kolesnikov in 2010 to then Russian president Dimitry Medvedev. It boasts a wooden throne, striptease stage, pole-dancing boudoir, a church, amphitheatre and even an ice palace. Its main building, designed by Italian architect Lanfranco Cirillo, is kitted out with Turkish baths, spas, a hookah bar, wine cellar, casino and large indoor swimming pool. The facility is also served by a 16-storey underground bunker built into the cliff and designed to withstand a nuclear strike.
In 2021 Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian entrepreneur and close friend of Putin claimed to have taken over the property for an aparthotel concept, however this was denied by workers at the palace. A Ukrainian source suggested the UAV was aimed at a private resort for engineers for the Russian aerospace bureau Mashinostroyeniya Research and Production Association.
