Shelling kills two in Russian region near Ukraine

MOSCOW: Two civilians died on Friday from shelling in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, which has witnessed intensified attacks and incursions recently, the regional governor said.

“Shrapnel hit cars passing by. Two women travelling in one of them died on the spot from their wounds,” Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.The governor added that Ukrainian forces had fired at a road in the village of Maslova Pristan, in the Shebekino district that has been the most affected by the recent shelling.

“There are two wounded in a second car. A man with shrapnel wounds to the chest, and a second man with injuries on the lower limbs,” Gladkov said.The two wounded, “in a serious condition”, were taken to the hospital.Ukrainian shelling damaged other settlements in the region but did not cause casualties, according to the statement from the governor.On Thursday the Russian army said it thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to invade the Belgorod region. Residents from Shebekino, fleeing the intensified fire, have begun filling up displaced centres in the regional capital, also called Belgorod.