Four people were killed and 24 others wounded by Ukrainian attacks on civilian buildings and vehicles in Russia’s Belgorod Region on Wednesday, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.
Kiev’s troops targeted around a dozen non-military settlements with artillery and drones, according to the governor.
“Yesterday was a terrible day for the whole of Belgorod Region,” Gladkov wrote in a post on Telegram on Thursday morning.
Throughout Wednesday, the governor reported Ukrainian strikes across the region via his channel.
In the afternoon, one person was killed and four others wounded, including a teenager and a three-year-old child, by an attack on the village of Krapivnoe.
A few hours later, Kiev’s forces shelled a farm in the village of Yasnye Zori, leaving one person dead and 13 wounded.
On Wednesday evening, a UAV targeted a civilian car in Yasnye Zori, injuring the driver, who was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.
Three trucks were hit by drones while moving along roads in various parts of the region. One of the drivers was killed, and the other two were wounded.
On the same day, buildings and infrastructure were damaged by shells and UAVs in Varvarovka, Novaya Tavolzhanka, Belyanka, Murom, Prilesye and other settlements. Incoming drones were shot down by air defenses over the regional capital, Belgorod.
It is not clear from Gladkov’s posts how the fourth fatality occurred.
"We will never find words to console the relatives and friends [of those killed], but I would like to express words of sincere condolences from all residents of Belgorod Region. We are with you,” the governor said.
The Russian regions of Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk, which all border Ukraine, have been frequent targets of cross-border fire since the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Shelling and drone strikes have been aimed at energy infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths and injuries, as well as the destruction of property.
The bombardment of Belgorod has intensified over the past month amid the stalling of the Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk Region and Russian advances in Donbass. Kiev’s forces have also attempted to enter Belgorod Region on several occasions, but have been pushed back.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine has lost more than 19,550 troops and several hundred units of military equipment, including 135 tanks and 98 armored personnel carriers, since the start of the incursion in Kursk Region in early August.