Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 24 people in New Year drone strike

MOSCOW, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were seeing in the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region.

Ukraine's military, which has accused Russia of killing many civilians in its own attacks on Ukrainian cities, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, first made the assertion about the strike in a statement. Russia's Foreign Ministry and senior Russian politicians later accused Ukraine of carrying out "a terrorist attack".

Reuters was not able to immediately verify photographs of what Saldo's press service said was the aftermath of the attack or the allegation.

At least one dead body was visible in the images beneath a white sheet. The building showed signs that a fierce fire had raged and there were what looked like blood stains on the ground.

Saldo said in his statement that three Ukrainian drones had struck the site of New Year celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a "deliberate strike" against civilians. He said that many people had been burnt alive.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said initial information indicated that 24 people, including one child, had been killed, and that 50 people had been injured, including six minors who were being treated in hospital.

"There is no doubt that the attack was planned in advance, with drones deliberately targeting areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve," the ministry said in a statement, calling the attack "a war crime".

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram that Ukraine's backers in the West were ultimately to blame. Senior politicians, including the speakers of both houses of Russia's parliament, condemned Kyiv.

Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine which Russia claimed as its own in 2022, a move Kyiv and most Western countries denounced as an illegal land grab.

(Reporting by Reuters Writing by Andrew Osborn and Felix Light Editing by Gareth Jones)