Tragedy struck along the volatile Russian border as three separate incidents of Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes claimed the lives of five individuals and left nine others wounded. Local officials confirmed the casualties in the border provinces of Belgorod and Kursk, as well as the contested city of Donetsk, which Russia asserts control over.
Denis Pushilin, the appointed leader of Donetsk region by Russia, conveyed the grim toll, stating that three civilians perished and eight sustained injuries when a Ukrainian missile targeted a restaurant in Donetsk city.
Donetsk, which fell under the control of Russian-backed separatists in 2014, regularly came under Ukrainian shelling after Moscow ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but became more secure after Kyiv’s troops were forced from its outskirts earlier this year.
In neighboring Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported one fatality and another injury resulting from a Ukrainian drone strike on a parked truck in the village of Novostroyevka-Pervaya. Similarly, in Kursk region, a civilian succumbed to injuries sustained in a drone strike on the frontier town of Sudzha. Both regions have borne the brunt of attacks since Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine in February 2022.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, a missile strike on a fuel depot in the town of Rovenky resulted in four deaths and 11 injuries, according to local authorities.
Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday, asserted its interception of multiple Ukrainian drone and rocket artillery strikes on its territory, claiming it downed 21 rockets and 16 drones across the Belgorod, Kursk, and Volgograd regions.
Melissa Enoch
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