Including family

Dead in Ukrainian attacks on border region

Fire following shelling of a residential building in the Russian border region of Belgorod(Bild: AFP)

Four people were killed by Ukrainian fire in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Monday. The regional governor announced that a married couple, a grandmother and a 17-year-old boy were among those killed. One girl is seriously injured in intensive care.

Their house was hit directly by a shell during attacks on the village of Nikolskoye, around 20 kilometers from the border. Other people were also injured in Ukrainian attacks on several villages. According to the governor, houses and cars were damaged and in one case an overhead power line was also hit.

A destroyed car(Bild: AFP)

A burning house in Belgorod(Bild: AFP)

Fire department in action(Bild: AFP)

The Russian border region of Belgorod had already been increasingly attacked by exiled Russian militias fighting on the side of Ukraine in the days before and during the presidential election. The groups even claimed to have invaded Russia and conquered villages. The opponent of the war denied this. However, intensive shelling hit Russian villages and the regional capital Belgorod. In the past week, a total of eleven people are said to have been killed and more than 80 injured in the region.

Is a buffer zone coming?
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday evening that his troops could occupy Ukrainian border areas to form a buffer zone against such attacks (see video above). He did not say how large this zone should be. It should at least be large enough to ensure that Russian territory cannot be reached with foreign weapons, he said. The Ukrainian government accuses Putin of wanting to escalate the war. A buffer zone is a clear declaration of war, said Ukrainian presidential advisor Mychajlo Podoljak.