Russia burns as Ukraine reprisal strikes kill five

AT least five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the south-western Russian city of Belgorod.

- Marco Giannangeli

It was the latest assault by Ukrainian forces in an incursion into Russian territory, soon entering its second month.

Russia is thought to use the region of Belgorod Oblast as a launching ground for regular cross-border missile strikes against Ukraine.

Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 37 of the injured, including seven children, were taken to hospitals in the city, which lies 25 miles north of the border with Ukraine.

The strikes late on Friday were condemned by Russia’s foreign ministry as a “brutal terrorist attack”.

A spokesman said: “Once again, we call on all responsible governments and relevant international structures to strongly condemn this brutal terrorist attack and publicly distance themselves from the Kyiv regime and its Western curators who commit such crimes.”

Yesterday a woman was also injured during Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino, four miles from the Ukrainian border, local authorities reported.