Four Victims of Drone Strike on Beach Near Gelendzhik Remain in Critical Condition

Four people injured in a drone strike on a beach in the Black Sea resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka near Gelendzhik remain in critical condition three days after the attack. An 11-year-old girl with severe shrapnel injuries is being prepared for transfer to a Moscow hospital, while authorities have begun paying compensation to the injured and to the families of those killed.

According to the latest confirmed figures, the August 3 attack killed eight people, including four children, and injured 58 others.

As of August 5, fourteen victims aged between 19 and 63 remained hospitalized at the Krasnodar Regional Clinical Hospital. Four were listed in critical condition and ten in serious but stable condition. Doctors said the patients had suffered blast injuries, shrapnel wounds, multiple traumatic injuries and burns. Three have already undergone additional surgery.

Doctors continue to fight for the lives of several injured children. An 11-year-old girl from Armavir remains in a medically induced coma and is on a ventilator. Surgeons removed a fragment of shrapnel from her lung during an operation, and she also required a blood transfusion.

According to her mother, severe blood loss and oxygen deprivation caused brain damage. She is expected to be transferred to a specialized hospital in Moscow as soon as her condition allows. Another child remains in intensive care, while a 17-year-old girl from Tula with severe injuries is being prepared for transfer to the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

Authorities have also located a woman who had initially been reported missing after the attack. She was found in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Krasnodar. Local officials said that after the explosion she left the beach in a state of shock and, upon admission to hospital, gave her maiden name, preventing relatives from identifying her among the victims.

Meanwhile, compensation payments have begun in Gelendzhik. According to Mayor Alexei Bogodistov, the families of those killed will receive 1.567 million rubles each. Victims who sustained severe or moderate injuries are entitled to 627,000 rubles, while those with minor injuries will receive 313,500 rubles. The first payments have already been made.

The attack took place on the morning of August 3 in Arkhipo-Osipovka, a Black Sea resort village that is part of the Gelendzhik municipality. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the strike.

Videos showing the final seconds of the drone's flight over the beach have since appeared online. The footage captures sounds resembling gunfire before the drone suddenly descends and explodes. The available video does not allow an independent determination of whether the drone was struck by Russian air defenses or electronic warfare systems, or whether the beach itself had been its intended target.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the attack. There is no independent evidence that the civilian beach was deliberately targeted by a Ukrainian drone.

Russia's Krasnodar region has been repeatedly targeted by drone attacks in recent weeks. On July 22, an employee of an industrial facility was killed in Armavir after drone debris fell in the area. Several people were hospitalized following a fire at a warehouse complex in Krasnodar, and one of the injured later died. On July 30, six more people were wounded after drone debris struck an industrial facility in the settlement of Volna in the Temryuk district.

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