Russia says Belgorod airstrike kills 5, injures 18

The city of Belgorod is about 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Moscow:

An airstrike hit the Russian city of Belgorod on Thursday, killing at least five people and injuring 18 others, the governor of Belgorod said.

Video shared on social media showed a shattered storefront surrounded by rubble in the city near the Ukrainian border. One of the photos showed a body covered in a blanket nearby.

“According to preliminary data, five people died in the city of Belgorod, including a child, and 18 others were injured, five of them children,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said .

“Ambulance crews are taking the injured to the medical center. All necessary assistance is being provided,” he posted on his Telegram channel.

The Defense Ministry said it had shot down 14 Ukrainian rockets over the area, adding that the rockets were fired from an RM-70 multiple rocket launcher system.

The city of Belgorod, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has been repeatedly hit by what Moscow says is indiscriminate shelling by Kiev forces.

Authorities began evacuating some residents from the city last month after an attack in Ukraine in late December killed 25 people, officials said.

Hundreds of people, including some 400 children, have been evacuated in the largest evacuation since Russia launched all-out hostilities against Ukraine in February 2022

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