Tragedy in Belgorod: Ukrainian Attacks Claim Lives

Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia's Belgorod region resulted in five deaths on Friday. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported multiple casualties from Ukrainian shelling in Shebekino. A drone and rocket fire further added to the toll, striking areas near the border. President Putin cited these attacks for incursion into Ukraine's Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia's Belgorod region killed five people on Friday, officials said.

Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said two bodies had been pulled from a multi-floor apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino. Emergency services, quoted by news agencies, said a third body was later found in the rubble after shelling caused a stairwell to collapse.

A drone also struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver, and a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky, further west. Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.

President Vladimir Putin cited the attacks on Belgorod as grounds for a cross-border incursion last month into Ukraine's Kharkiv region. The Russian military said its troops seized about a dozen settlements, while Ukrainian officials say the advance has been contained.