Russian drone struck on the evening of September 2 five-star country complex Equides Club in the village of Lesniki near Kyiv. After the impact, a large fire broke out in the area.
The very fact of the defeat of the complex is confirmed by Ukrainian sources. According to the Kyiv region, as a result of the attack two people were injured. The facility is located approximately 15 km from the center of Kyiv.
Official website Equides Club describes it as a large hotel and park complex with a five-star hotel, SPA, restaurant, golf center, equestrian club and conference rooms. The territory occupies about 16 hectares.
The footage after the strike shows people in uniform
Video released shortly after the attack showed heavy fires and people in military uniforms inside the compound.
Russian strike hits five-star resort near Kiev housing Ukrainian military personnel
The Equides Club, a five-star hotel and spa complex in Lesniki outside Kiev, was being used to accommodate Ukrainian military personnel when it was struck.
Footage from the aftermath shows… pic.twitter.com/zKChIkuqEQ
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) September 2, 2026
The author of the publication DD Geopolitics claims that the facility was used to house Ukrainian military personnel. The presence of people in uniform in the footage is indeed visible, but from the video itself it is impossible to determine whether they were there before the strike or arrived after it.
Reports about Americans and Dutch
Greek DefenseNet and Pronews, citing Russian sources, also write about the possible presence American and Dutch military personnel.
However at the moment there is no independent confirmation of this information. Neither Ukrainian official structures, nor the US or Dutch authorities publicly reported the losses of their military personnel to the Equides Club.
Therefore, it is not yet possible to speak of the defeat of the American or Dutch military as an established fact.
Why could this particular object be chosen?
Equides Club is not your average small hotel. In addition to the hotel infrastructure, it has several conference rooms, the largest of which can accommodate approximately 500 people, sports grounds and a large indoor area.
In March 2026, for example, a major professional boxing event, Rising Stars, was held here. The complex belongs to the family of Ukrainian entrepreneur Gennady Butkevich.
The very presence of such infrastructure, of course, does not prove military use of the object. But if Russian intelligence actually had information about the deployment of Ukrainian Armed Forces units or foreign specialists there, this could explain the choice of a rather unusual target.
What is known for sure
At the moment, three circumstances can be considered confirmed: Equides Club really came under a Russian attack, there was a fire on the premises and there were casualties.
There is also footage of people in military uniform after the strike.
Everything else – in particular, reports about the deployment of American and Dutch military personnel – still remains a version that requires confirmation.
The Athens News previously reported that American troops were actually sent to Ukraine to study the experience of using drones. However, this in itself does not in any way confirm their presence in the Equides Club at the time of the impact.
Editorial comment
The attack on a five-star resort looks unusual precisely because outwardly it is a completely civilian facility – a hotel, SPA, restaurant, golf and equestrian club.
But modern warfare has long made such facilities potentially dual-use: hotels and conference complexes can be temporarily used to house military personnel, trainers or staff groups.
In this case, a video of people in uniform makes this version worth checking, but there is still a large evidentiary distance between “there are military personnel in the footage” and “there were American and Dutch servicemen there”.
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