At least one person has been killed and a number of others injured after a shelling attack on a Russian region bordering Ukraine, the region's governor said Tuesday.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the shelling struck a temporary shelter for evacuees from the region's Shebekino district, which lies on the Ukrainian border and has reported frequent cross-border attacks since the invasion of Ukraine.
“A very difficult day is coming to an end,” Gladkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “A large number of attacks, one person was killed. The most sincere condolences to all loved ones. Several people were injured.”
Gladkov said he visited the town of Shebekino in person following the attack.
Utility companies were working to restore electricity, telecommunications, heating and water, he added.
His statement could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the reported attack.
A photo published by the Ostorozhno, Novosti news channel on Telegram purported to show the temporary evacuee shelter following the attack with its roof caved in.
The Belgorod region, which lies across the border from Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, has reported hundreds of shelling and drone attacks in the 15 months since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
It has faced intensifying attacks in recent weeks, including a two-day incursion claimed by an anti-Kremlin militia made up of Russian nationals last week.
Tuesday’s attack came a day after Gladkov said that Belgorod was in a “de facto state of war” in a rare admission of the scale of the fighting in Ukraine and Russia’s border regions ahead of a widely expected counteroffensive by Kyiv.
Russia’s capital Moscow was also targeted in an unprecedented drone attack on Tuesday.
The Defense Ministry said it downed eight drones over Moscow early Tuesday morning. No serious casualties were reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the attack on Moscow on Ukrainian “terrorist activity” and called it an attempt to “intimidate” ordinary Russians.
Kyiv denied involvement in the attack on Moscow.
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