Pictures showed the huge explosion.

18:16, Mon, Aug 3, 2026 Updated: 18:16, Mon, Aug 3, 2026

The explosion

The explosion (Image: East2West)

There was terror on a Russian beach today as a “downed” Ukrainian drone crashed and exploded onto sunbathers.

At least four people were killed and a dozen wounded as the unmanned plane exploded in Arkhipo-Osipovka.

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One of the dead was reportedly a child.

The horror was just 17 miles from Vladimir Putin’s secret £1 billion Gelenzhik palace bolthole, likened to the lair of a Bond villain.

The drone is seen dive-bombing onto tourists at a popular beach in a temperature of 29C.

Beachgoers complained there were no warning sirens and some cowered under sun loungers.

There was panic as the drone fell and detonated.

Across the bay, tourists fled from the sea.

“We were on the beach at the time. I'm in complete shock,” said one.

“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.”

Air defence machine gunners were heard seeking to defend the resort from drones as the crippled UAV fell on the tourists.

Its real target was not clear but Putin’s high-security ostentatious palace is just 17 miles along the coastline.

Another witness 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.”

A terror-struck tourist said: “I'm leaving here with my family.

“This all happened in front of the children, and the child is having a nervous breakdown.”

Another said: “We were already home when we heard a barrage of gunfire, like a machine gun, and an explosion. Everything shook.”

“A tragedy has occurred in Gelenzhik,” said Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev, who suggested that it was drone debris that crash, indicating the kamikaze plane had been downed.

“In the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, three people were killed, according to preliminary information, due to the crash of drone debris.

“I extend my sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. Thirteen others were injured.”

A Ukrainian source suggested the hit may have been on a “private resort” for the Russian engineers from rocket-making Mashinostroenie Research and Production Association.

There was no immediate official comment.

Russian tourists have flocked to the Black Sea coastline of Krasnodar, believing it safer than occupied Crimea, which is now a virtual no-go zone due to a Ukrainian blockade of the peninsula.

Yet the area around Gelendzhik has been repeatedly targeted by drones.

Russian tourists voiced outrage that there were no alarms.

“No sirens. Nothing happened,” said one.

Mayor Alexey Bogodistov evidently announced a drone threat at 8:34 am and then cancelled it ten minutes later, but beachgoers said there was no warning.

Putin’s clifftop palace boasts a wooden throne and earlier a striptease stage and pole dancing boudoir.

It includes a 16-storey underground complex and bunker, built inside the cliff to withstand nuclear attack.