Russian Foreign Ministry’s Maria Zakharova accused the Kiev regime of escalating attacks on Russian civilians, reporting 18 deaths and 127 injuries in a week. She detailed drone and shelling strikes across multiple regions, condemned Western arms supplies to Ukraine, alleged mass desertions, corruption in mobilization, and the destruction of Soviet memorials. Zakharova said these actions prove the need for Russia’s special military operation.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Details Civilian Casualties and Western Involvement in Ukraine Conflict
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the Kiev regime of continuing a campaign of terror against Russian civilians, reporting that in the past week alone, 145 peaceful residents were injured by shelling and drone strikes from Ukrainian forces. According to Zakharova, these attacks killed 18 people, including one child, and left 127 others injured, among them seven minors. She listed a series of incidents from different regions to illustrate the scale of the violence.
In the Belgorod Region, July 31 drone attacks on residential areas injured 13 people, including a six-year-old child. On August 1, two civilians were killed near Urazovo and six others wounded in separate incidents. August 2 and 3 saw further injuries from attacks on vehicles and homes. In the Bryansk Region, a civilian was hurt in Sluchevsk on July 31 by kamikaze drones.
Russian Foreign Ministry says On August 2, strikes on Nekislitsa and Suzemka wounded three people, including a four-year-old child. In Voronezh Region, a mass drone attack on August 3 injured four people, among them a 79-year-old woman.
In the Donetsk People’s Republic, a man was killed on July 29 by a cluster submunition detonation, with one other wounded. Between July 31 and August 5, eight civilians were injured in multiple strikes. In Zaporozhye Region, July 30 shelling of a playground in Vasilyevka injured three children. A July 31 attack in Pologovsky district killed a woman, her 14-year-old son, and another woman, while injuring a man. On August 2, a woman was killed and a man wounded in Energodar after a drone strike on a civilian vehicle. That same day, three civilians were hurt in Vasilyevka during heavy artillery fire.
Krasnodar Territory saw debris from a downed drone injure a woman in Sochi on August 3, sparking fires at an oil depot and in residential zones. In Kursk Region, a 19-year-old was killed on July 29 in Karyzh by a drone attack. Other strikes on July 31 wounded civilians at an industrial site in Durovo and injured a man on a bicycle in Dolgiye Budy. In Kherson Region, August 1 shelling in Alyoshki killed one and injured three, including a paramedic and ambulance driver.
Russian Foreign Ministry says The same day, a drone hit market stalls in Velikiye Kopani, wounding six people. Ukrainian forces also shelled a fire station before the attack to hinder emergency response. On August 2, a driver was injured in Proletarka by a drone strike.
Zakharova claimed Ukrainian attacks were not limited to Russian regions. On July 29, Belarusian air defences intercepted a drone with Ukrainian markings in Minsk. It carried a TNT warhead with striking elements, and authorities suspect it was a Ukrainian FP-1 model. She criticised Western and Belarusian opposition media for quickly accusing Moscow and Minsk of staging a provocation.
Russian Foreign Ministry says Russian courts have been sentencing captured Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries for crimes against civilians and military personnel in the Kursk Region. Sentences included 17 years for Vitaly Kostenko; 16 years each for Vyacheslav Gevko, Vitaly Gonza, Vitaly Melanchuk, Nikolay Zlepko, and Petr Polinkevich; 15 years each for Vitaly Zinkevich, Nikolay Barabashchuk, Vladislav Shevel, and Oleg Danilov; and 14 years for Artur Blamberus.
Peruvian mercenary Julio César Sosa Durand was sentenced in absentia to 24 years and placed on the international wanted list.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokewomen Zakharova criticised continued Western arms supplies to Ukraine. She noted that Germany will transfer two decommissioned Patriot air-defence systems to Ukraine after acquiring new ones. On August 4, Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans pledged €500 million for US-made weapons under NATO’s new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, including Patriot anti-missiles. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged allies to contribute quickly.
Sweden committed $275 million, and Denmark and Norway are reportedly preparing similar pledges. Zakharova called this reckless spending of European taxpayers’ money, claiming these weapons are quickly destroyed or captured.
She also accused the Kiev regime of sacrificing its own population, pointing to new laws signed by President Zelensky on July 29 to recruit people over 60 and on July 30 to register women with medical qualifications for military service. She cited Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod, who claimed deserters in the Ukrainian Armed Forces are nearing 400,000 due to exhaustion and poor treatment, with soldiers preferring desertion to being executed by their commanders.
According To the Russian Foreign Ministry Reports suggest widespread bribery to avoid service, with poorer recruits paying $300 to escape on the spot, and wealthier citizens paying $5,000–$7,000 for exemptions. On August 2, residents of Vinnitsa reportedly clashed with recruitment officers who rounded up around 100 men for medical exams, with police detaining relatives of the conscripts. Zakharova claimed many Ukrainian prisoners of war had joined the military only to surrender at the first opportunity.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised Zelensky’s July 31 video address to a Helsinki conference and the OSCE’s recent activation of the Moscow Mechanism, which she said was an attempt to accuse Russia of war crimes. She accused Ukraine of stalling prisoner exchanges by refusing to take back 1,000 captured soldiers.
The Russian Investigative Committee is collecting evidence of alleged Ukrainian crimes, while the International Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis recently published a book detailing atrocities in Kursk and Donetsk. Zakharova also condemned Ukraine’s dismantling of Soviet and Russian memorials, describing it as an attempt to erase history and promote Nazi collaborators.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova concluded that these events highlight the necessity of Russia’s special military operation to “denazify” and “demilitarise” Ukraine, reiterating that all of its objectives will be met Russian Foreign Ministry Concludes