Kovalchuk called the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike on a bus with children from Belarus a planned action.

The attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on a bus carrying children from Belarus in the Bryansk region is a planned action. This was announced on June 17 by the acting governor of the region, Egor Kovalchuk.

"We can say that it was a planned action," he told IS Vesti.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the same day that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on a bus carrying a children's soccer team from Belarus was another terrorist attack by Kiev, which preys on civilians, including children.

Kovalchuk said at the same time that six people, including four children, had been injured in a strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a bus in the region. The attack killed a woman accompanying the team.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus has already been informed about the incident with the bus in the Bryansk region. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation also announced the initiation of a criminal case in connection with the attack by Ukrainian armed groups on a passenger bus near Bryansk.