Russian village shelled from Ukraine – governor

Another Russian village was attacked from Ukraine early on Tuesday, the governor of the southwestern Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov has claimed.

The settlement of Golovchino, located some 10km from the Ukrainian border, was targeted, the governor announced on his Telegram channel. A local woman was wounded in the attack and is now “receiving all necessary medical assistance,” he wrote.

The shelling “caused destruction” in the village – with a population of more than 4,700 people – and the full extent of the damage now being evaluated, Gladkov added.

Several areas in Russia’s border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk have come under Ukrainian fire in the past week. The worst attack took place last Thursday in Klimovo, Bryansk Region, where eight people – including a two-year-old boy and his pregnant mother – were injured. According to the Russian side, it was carried out by two Ukrainian helicopters, which had violated the country’s airspace.

Kiev has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in those incidents. But Moscow has responded to them by intensifying missile strikes on military targets inside Ukraine. It also warned that it would hit “decision-making centers, including Kiev” if attacks on Russian territory continue.

Russia sent its troops into the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

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