Ukrainian forces today shelled several frontier settlements in the Russian border region of Belgorod just days after anti-Putin rebel groups briefly captured territory there, the local governor said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said two industrial facilities in the border town of Shebekino had been shelled and four employees had been wounded while several settlements were left without electricity.
The governor ordered some 300 children to be evacuated from Shebekino and the border district of Graivoron and sent to summer camps away from the front lines.
Belgorod, which borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, has repeatedly come under attack from Kyiv‘s forces since the beginning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Today’s strike is the heaviest shelling on the region since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, local media reported, and it comes as the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was rocked by missiles yet again.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said two industrial facilities in the border town of Shebekino (pictured) had been shelled and four employees had been wounded while several settlements were left without electricity
Ukrainian forces today shelled several frontier settlements including Shebekino (pictured) in the Russian border region of Belgorod
Black smoke rises up in the air after Ukrainian forces subjected Belgorod region to heaviest shelling yet
Local residents try to put out a fire after Russian missile strikes hit the Kyiv region on Friday
Gladkov admitted today that ‘several settlements of the Belgorod region are under fire from the armed forces of Ukraine’, adding that two industrial enterprises had been targeted.
He continued: ‘Shells hit one enterprise, and a production building with paint and varnish liquids caught fire.
‘There are four victims – men, employees of the enterprise, who were delivered to the Central District Hospital with burns of the respiratory tract and carbon monoxide poisoning.
‘One is in intensive care in a serious condition, three are in a state of moderate severity. All necessary medical assistance is provided.’
Other villages including Novaya Tavolzhanka were also hit, Gladkov said.
Today’s attack on Belgorod comes as Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles at Kyiv this morning.
Ukrainian air defences managed to shoot down all missiles fired at the capital in the daytime attack and no targets were hit there, the city’s military administration said.
A series of explosions rang out in the capital today as authorities told residents to seek shelter after another night of Russian strikes.
Authorities in the western city of Khmelnytsky said Russian forces also attacked a military facility overnight and damaged five aircraft.
At least ten explosions were heard from around 11.10 am local time (0810 GMT) in Kyiv, and the blasts took place soon after the air raid warning sounded.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions ‘in the central districts’ of the Ukrainian capital, a rare occurrence in daytime, and told residents to ‘stay in shelters’.
‘The attack on Kyiv continues,’ he added minutes after.
Authorities reported rocket fragments falling in three city districts.
Klitschko said emergency services were working to extinguish rocket debris burning on the road in Kyiv’s northern Obolonskiy district.
A firefighter puts out a fire following a massive Russian drone attack on May 28
A cargo trailer burns after having been damaged during a massive Russian air strike in the Kyiv region of Ukraine in the early hours of May 29
A Russian drone is shot down by Ukrainian forces in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 28
A police officer inspects damages after a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region on Monday
A firefighter works at a site of a private house damaged by remains of a cruise missile in the Kyiv region on Friday
The mayor said fragments of rockets had fallen in the city’s northwestern Podilskiy district, injuring one and setting fire to a building.
The Kyiv city administration said air defences were at work over the capital.
Kyiv, which had been relatively spared from attacks since the beginning of the year, has faced nearly nightly aerial raids this month.
The May attacks, however, have usually happened during the night.
Authorities said earlier Monday that Kyiv repelled another large volley of overnight air strikes, with no casualties.
Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on social media that a total of ‘up to 40 missiles’ and ‘around 35 drones’ had been launched, of which 37 and 29 were downed.
The latest figures showed the percentage of downed missiles and drones appeared to be decreasing.
The latest barrages hit Kyiv as locals were still recovering from an overnight Saturday drone attack, the biggest since Russia’s invasion began in February last year.
In the western city of Khmelnytsky, regional authorities said Russian troops attacked a military facility overnight.
In a rare admission of the damage, they said ‘five aircraft have been put out of action.’
Work was underway to localise fires at fuel and lubricant warehouses and repair a runway, the statement said.
The Kremlin was left furious last week after native Russian anti-Kremlin fighters carried out a major cross-border raid on a series of border villages in Belgorod, briefly seizing several settlements before withdrawing over the frontier.
Last week, native Russian anti-Kremlin fighters (pictured) carried out a major cross-border raid on a series of border villages in Belgorod, briefly seizing several settlements before withdrawing over the frontier
An anti-Kremlin volunteer fighter is pictured alongside a captured Russian armoured personnel carrier last week
Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) are seen riding on armoured personnel carriers in Russia’s Belgorod region last week
Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has said that destroying infrastructure is preparation for a planned ground assault.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered stronger border security to ensure ‘fast’ Russian military and civilian movement into the Ukrainian regions now under Moscow’s control.
But Gladkov today demanded that the Kremlin take more action to defend his region amid the Ukrainian strikes.
He called on Russian forces to take the extreme measure of annexing neighbouring Kharkiv in Ukraine to save his region.
He said: ‘What can be done to secure our territory, especially the border areas?
‘Kharkiv [in Ukraine] has to be annexed to Belgorod region.
‘Do you believe in this possibility? This is the best way to solve the problem of shelling in Belgorod region.’
‘We are living in the conditions of what essentially is war,’ Gladkov warned Moscow.
‘Whether people like it or not, this is happening. The enemy comes in. Before the latest events in Graivoron, five sabotage groups had entered.’
Last week, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion, armed with armoured vehicles, small arms and a pair of tanks, surged over the border from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and took a string of urban settlements to occupy roughly 3-5 miles of Russian soil.
They later launched a pair of drone attacks on FSB and Interior Ministry buildings in Belgorod city on Tuesday, prompting Gladkov to order the evacuation of nine Russian towns and the Kremlin to admit ‘serious cause for concern’.
By Tuesday afternoon, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had ‘wiped out’ the rebels, whom they refused to acknowledge as Russian and instead described them as Ukrainian nationalists.
Ukrainian officials meanwhile retorted they were not involved in the orchestration of the incursion, claiming the attack was carried out by Russian citizens and casting it as homegrown, internal Russian strife.
Kyiv has been preparing to launch an offensive although its timing and focus have been the subject of months of speculation.
Ukrainian authorities have said almost nothing except that they need more weapons from Kyiv’s backers.
Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said Monday that in the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut ‘the intensity of the enemy’s offensive has significantly decreased’ as Russian mercenary group Wagner was handing over its positions to Moscow’s regular troops.
‘Our troops are making this process much more difficult for the enemy,’ she said.
‘At the same time, the intensity of enemy artillery shelling has not decreased.’
