Russia said at least nine people were killed and 19 hurt in a Ukrainian missile strike on its border city of Belgorod on Sunday, as thousands of civilians on the other side of the frontier fled intensified attacks by Moscow’s forces on the Kharkiv region.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence units shot down 12 Ukrainian rockets of different types over Belgorod, which is about 40km from the border, and debris from one missile hit a 10-storey apartment block in the city.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said two children were among those injured and that six of those hurt were quickly released from hospital. He did not confirm reports on Russian news websites that seven people had been killed and 10 were missing after the missile strike.
Belgorod and the surrounding region now come under almost daily shelling and drone attacks from Ukraine. It is the closest Russian city to the frontier and a launch site for heavy missile strikes on Kharkiv city, which is just 35km from the border, and nearby towns and villages.
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Russia intensified rocket attacks on Kharkiv in recent months and last week launched a ground assault into the sparsely populated “grey zone” on the Ukrainian side of the border, where it claims to have taken control of several villages.
Relentless shelling of the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk has prompted thousands of residents to flee the area, and rekindled fears that Russia may try again to storm Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, which stood firm when the Kremlin launched its all-out invasion of the country in February 2022.
“The occupiers continue to shell the civilian population. Over the last day, the number of major artillery and air strikes increased. Vovchansk ... and all points on the northern border are under enemy fire almost 24 hours a day,” Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said on Sunday.
“The number of settlements where active hostilities are under way has increased ... Therefore, the evacuation of the civilian population does not stop. According to our data, up to 500 people remain in Vovchansk,” he added in a post on social media.
“Over the last two days, more than 4,000 people were taken to safety. We call on residents to protect their lives and leave areas that are under enemy fire!”
Oleksii Kharkivsky, Vovchansk’s chief patrol police officer, told Reuters: “Within 24 hours, there were probably several hundred hits by artillery, mines and dozens of cluster bombs ... They are destroying the town, they are trying to get inside the area. But there are no enemy troops in the town.”
Ukrainian officials say there is no immediate threat to Kharkiv city or of a major Russian breakthrough in the region. Some military analysts see the attacks as an attempt to draw Kyiv’s forces away from the front line in Donetsk region, to the south, and weaken defences there.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the situation in Kharkiv region had “significantly worsened” over the last week but insisted that “the attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defences have been stopped.”
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