One person killed in Ukrainian attacks on Russian region – governor
One person has been killed and another severely wounded in Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Belgorod Region in the past 24 hours, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.
Kiev’s forces used 52 shells and 41 drones to target eight districts of Belgorod Region, Gladkov wrote in a post on Telegram on Friday morning.
In the village of Terebreno, a member of the local self-defense forces was killed by an explosive device dropped from a UAV, he said.
According to the governor, a man was also severely wounded in a drone strike on the village of Krasnaya Niva. He had been hospitalized with multiple shrapnel wounds to his head and arms.
Some 30 settlements in the region have been attacked by Ukrainian artillery and drones, with damage to private homes and social facilities reported, Gladkov reported.
The Russian regions of Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk, which all border Ukraine, have been frequent targets of cross-border fire since the escalation 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.
Ukraine has intensified the bombardment of Belgorod Region in recent months amid continued Russian advances in Donbass and the launch of Kiev’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in early August. The advance of the Ukrainian forces was swiftly halted, with the territory under their control steadily shrinking since then.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had lost 40,060 troops and several hundred units of military equipment, including 236 tanks and 175 infantry fighting vehicles, during its operation in Kursk Region.
Kiev’s forces have also attempted to enter Belgorod Region in a similar fashion on several occasions, but have been pushed back.