"Tonight, the enemy carried out a targeted drone strike on a place where civilians were celebrating New Year. Three drones hit a cafe and hotel on the Black Sea coast in Khorly. Preliminary data: over 50 injured, 24 killed. We clarify the numbers. Many were burned alive. A child was killed," Governor Vladimir Saldo said.
The strike occurred almost at the stroke of midnight, he said, adding that the the fire has been extinguished, and medics fight for the lives of the injured.
"The particular cynicism lies in the fact that the strike was carried out after a reconnaissance drone had completed its work—almost in time with the chiming of the clock. Due to an extremely powerful fire, it was not possible to save more people. The fire was only extinguished toward morning," the governor stressed.
"In the night strike by Ukrainian UAVs on a hotel in the Kherson Region, 24 people were killed, 29 injured, including five children," the regional branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) said.
"They are not just war criminals, they are sadists, worthy of their spiritual fathers — the Gestapo," said Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya.
Simonyan emphasized that none of them will escape punishment.