Ukrainian attacks on Russian border regions have killed six civilians, including two children, local officials have said.
Attacks on the city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic have claimed four lives, including of two minors in their early teens, Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said. Three ambulance workers were reportedly injured in the same attacks.
In Belgorod Region, a local resident was killed when a drone struck a car in the border municipality of Graivoron, the administration reported on 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, according to the official. Several apartment buildings, more than ten private homes, and other properties were damaged, he added.
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, he said. The raid forced authorities to temporarily close a highway linking Yaroslavl with the Russian capital.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 173 Ukrainian long-range drones over 14 Russian regions overnight.
Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately targeting civilians. In a major incident last Friday, three waves of kamikaze drones struck a college in the town of Starobelsk, killing 21 people, most of them 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, which Kiev considers part of Ukraine.
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.