Four people were wounded by Russian strikes on the east Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, officials have said today, as Moscow said it had downed a barrage of Ukrainian rockets.
The Kharkiv region borders Russia and has been under persistent shelling since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with recent bombardments there leaving thousands without power.
Its governor Oleg Sinegubov said on social media that three men and one woman all over the age of 50 were injured in separate strikes on towns and villages in the region with artillery and rockets.
Ukraine’s air force chief said separately that Russian forces had launched 13 Iranian-designed attack drones at Ukraine overnight and that 10 were downed over the Kharkiv region, the neighbouring Sumy region and near the capital Kyiv.
“Anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups, electronic warfare equipment … were involved in repelling the air attack,” Mykola Oleshchuk said.
Russia meanwhile announced that its air defence systems had shot down 18 rockets near the border city of Belgorod, which has recently seen an uptick in fatal Ukrainian attacks.
The Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said one person was wounded during the barrage.
Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said one person was injured and there was damage to private homes and cars.
Ukraine has been staging air attacks for months on Belgorod and two nearby regions, Kursk and Voronezh.
About 25 were killed in the biggest attack on the region at the beginning of the year.
There have also been a number of incursions into Belgorod region.
Read more:
Ten wounded after Russian missile debris hits Kyiv
Ukraine retaliates after Russian airstrikes on Kyiv
Russia admits ‘state of war’ amid strikes on Ukraine
