Buildings burn after strikes in the Russian border region of Belgorod – Video Russia
The governor of Belgorod says the second partisan attack in Russia in two weeks left 12 people injured in the attack
Russian anti-Putin partisans said they raided the town of Shebekino, just over four miles across the Ukrainian border in Belgorod province, the second partisan attack inside Russia in less than two weeks.
The Ukraine-based Russian Volunteer Corps said it shelled the local Russian administrative building, while dramatic footage of a large block with multiple rooftop fires was posted to a local Telegram messenger channel.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Russian governor of Belgorod Oblast, said 12 Russians were injured in the fighting, while 29 buildings, including a kindergarten, had been damaged by “numerous artillery shells” since Wednesday.
The Russian Volunteer Corps, led by a prominent nationalist, said it allowed Russian forces to retreat to the administration building before it was shelled with Grad rockets. A spokesman for the group added: “Very soon we will see the outskirts of Shebekino.”
Hours earlier, Russia had attacked Kiev early in the morning with a high-speed rocket, killing three, including a nine-year-old girl, and injuring eleven, according to Ukrainian authorities. Claims also emerged that a local emergency shelter did not open in time for people to flee to safety.
Ukraine said Russia fired Iskander ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, meaning there was only about five minutes’ warning before they struck, although most of the damage appears to have been caused by falling debris, as the incoming missiles were hit by the capital’s air defenses were intercepted.
Thursday marks International Children’s Day in many post-Soviet countries, and Ukraine accused Russia of involvement in terrorism. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the President of Ukraine, posted a picture of the dead child’s grandfather sitting next to the youth’s foil-covered body.
Podolyak tweeted: “Eyewitnesses said the man crouched over his granddaughter’s body until one of his neighbors brought him a chair. He can’t move away. He can’t understand. He can’t breathe. He lost his life.”
The hardest-hit area was Kiev’s eastern Desnianskyi district, where debris fell on a children’s hospital and a block of flats, and also damaged two schools and a police station.
A distraught man interviewed on Kiev TV said his wife was one of the victims of Thursday’s attack. He said she ran to a local animal shelter after an air raid siren went off. But the shelter was closed and she was caught out in the open and hit by falling metal from an intercepted missile.
Officials said police were investigating, while the head of Desnianskyi district said a security guard opened a central entrance to the shelter but some people couldn’t get inside, possibly because they were given so little time to react.
After Russian forces captured Bakhmut in eastern Donbass after a year of fighting, the war shifted to renewed attacks on civilian centers ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Russia has resorted to a pattern of almost daily attacks on Kiev – 17 in May alone – using a mix of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles, apparently with the aim of demoralizing the population and depleting anti-aircraft ammunition stocks.
Meanwhile, attacks by Russian partisans have increased since late May, including a drone attack on Moscow. Ukraine usually denies involvement, although the groups are based in the country.
While not considered militarily significant, the attacks could have a diversionary effect, forcing Russia to position troops within its own territory.
Western sources said on Thursday ammunition, supplies and troops trained in close-range combat and rapid infantry maneuvers are nearing deployment at assembly points, allowing Ukraine to launch its counteroffensive within weeks.
They claimed Russia was weakened on a 1,000-kilometer front with strong defensive positions, but its military had no credible reserve force in case there was a breach in its lines.
There is also evidence that the psychological impact of preliminary Ukrainian formation operations is having a worrying impact on Russia’s political and military ties, with taboos being broken on criticizing Russian leaders, the sources added.
One official said: “Realistically, we do not expect Ukraine to advance to the Sea of Azov and capture hundreds of kilometers of territory.” where that might lead.”
Gladkov also said mortar fire was aimed at a border village near Grayvoron, about 55 miles west of Belgorod. This was the site of an earlier raid in May in which partisan groups briefly claimed they had overrun a border post, killing a guard. Gladkov added that in the city of Belgorod a drone blew up, landed on the street and injured two people.
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be kept abreast of developments, while the Defense Ministry added it had repelled three cross-border attacks near Shebekino and accused Ukraine of using “terrorist formations” to attempt attacks on Russian territory .
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