Two people were killed and four others were injured in a Ukrainian air strike on a village in western Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said Monday.
Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a man and a teenager were killed by a “direct hit” on their home in the village of Nikolskoye, located some 70 kilometers north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
“Our rescuers pulled a little girl from the rubble of the same house... Doctors are doing everything possible to save her life,” Gladkov wrote on the messaging app Telegram, adding that searches were underway for two more women.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian rockets over the region early Monday.
Meanwhile, health officials said 11 Belgorod region residents were killed and 82 others were injured in cross-border shelling last week.
Vladimir Putin, who was declared winner of the presidential race, said in his victory speech Sunday that he was considering creating a buffer zone in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region to prevent attacks on Russia.
