France says Russia will have to answer for the deaths of two French nationals killed in a drone attack in the Kherson region of Ukraine as they performed humanitarian duties.
Kherson regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote in a post on Telegram that the two French nationals were killed, and three other foreigners injured in the attack in Beryslav, a town just outside the southern city of Kherson, on February 1.
Prokudin did not say which humanitarian group the casualties worked for.
"Russian barbarity has targeted civilians in Ukraine," French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
"Russia will have to answer for its crimes," he added.
The French remarks come as the United Nations' highest court on February 2 ruled that it has jurisdiction in most aspects of a case filed by Ukraine against Russia shortly after the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost two years ago.
The case filed by Kyiv at the International Court of Justice in The Hague accuses Russia of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by falsely claiming that the February 24, 2022, invasion was launched in order to curb an alleged genocide of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on social media that "the brave French aid workers assisted people and we will always be grateful for their humanity."
Kherson has been the focus of intense attacks by Russian forces for months.
Ukraine's military said on February 2 that its air defenses shot down 11 out of 24 Russian drones launched early on February 2 at critical infrastructure facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, and Kharkiv regions.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Two Frenchmen, Presumed By Russian Media To Have Been Killed In Ukraine, Speak To RFE/RL
The strikes hit a thermal power plant in the Kryviy Rih area of Dnipropetrovsk, leaving more than 40,000 people without electricity, regional officials said, while some 100 miners were temporarily trapped in two nearby mines due to the lack of electricity.
An unspecified number were later brought to the surface, authorities said, without elaborating.
The Energy Ministry said there were fires at the power plant and damage to substations.
Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia's unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark.
Kyiv is hoping that a four-year, 50 billion-euro aid package approved by the European Union on February 1 will help bring in fresh supplies of weapons and ammunition as a counteroffensive stalls.
They are also hoping it will push U.S. lawmakers toward approving a supplementary spending bill that includes $61 billion in aid.
That package has been stalled in the U.S. Congress amid opposition from Republican lawmakers who want any spending package to also include sweeping changes to border protection policy in the United States.
Separately, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on February 2 said that Toomas Nakhkur, who led the ministry's technical-policy and weapons-development unit, has been suspended after being named a suspect in an undisclosed criminal case.
The move follows an announcement by the Ukrainian Security Service on January 27 that it had uncovered a scheme to embezzle the equivalent of some $40 million earmarked to buy mortar shells for the country's military.
SEE ALSO: Ukraine Uncovers Major Military Corruption ScamIt was unknown if the Nakhkur situation is related.
Kyiv is attempting to clamp down on corruption in a bid to speed up its membership in the European Union and NATO. Officials from both blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms before Kyiv can join.