Ukrainian drone kills sunbathers on Russian beach close to Putin’s palace

 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.

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.’

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’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.

The attack came just a day after a deadly explosion ripped through an upmarket Moscow restaurant, where reports suggested a gathering linked to senior Russian military figures may have been the intended target…

A bomb being carried by a female courier detonated as she tried to deliver a ‘present’ to a private event at an Italian restaurant in Moscow.

A woman attempted to deliver TNT, disguised as a gift, into Balzi Rossi, but a security guard refused to let her in, reported Russian outlet Ria Novosti.

The blast on the upscale Italian establishment in central Moscow, killed the guard, the woman bomber and another guest, Russian state media said.

The device, filled with metal pellets, was detonated remotely after being presented to security as a ‘gift’.

According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 20 people were injured.

The Kommersant daily suggested that the woman carrying the bomb may not have known about it, and that it had been set off remotely by someone else.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the bomb attack in the capital ‘brutal terrorist act,’ but did not say who was responsible.

‘Yesterday, a brutal terrorist act was committed in Moscow that claimed human lives.

‘The victims are currently in the city’s hospitals, where they are receiving all necessary care,’ Sobyanin wrote on social media Sunday.

He added that a probe into the attack was underway. ‘Those responsible for committing this crime will certainly be found and will face the punishment they deserve,’ he wrote.

At least 21 people were wounded when the explosive device detonated at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.

There was no further information from Russian authorities, and no one had publicly claimed responsibility.