Ukrainian bombing of the Russian city of Belgorod killed two people, officials said Saturday. Pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters captured around twenty Russian soldiers.
A man and a woman died in Saturday’s Ukrainian attack and three other people were injured, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. This is the last exchange of fire from long-range missiles and rockets as part of the Russian war against Ukraine.
Five people were also injured when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, about 2 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, the governor said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also declared on Saturday that it had thwarted the attempts of “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups” to enter the country from the Sumy region of Ukraine. This followed an armed attack claimed on Tuesday by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Moscow’s military and security forces killed 30 fighters in foiling the latest incursion.
Russian soldiers captured?
The Russian Volunteer Corps – one of the groups which claimed to have crossed the border on Tuesday and which claims to be “fighting for the freedom of the Ukrainian and Russian people” – released a video on social media on Saturday claiming having captured 25 Russian soldiers without it being possible to verify these allegations at this stage.
Also on Saturday, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft in the Samara region, about 725 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, regional governor Dmitry Azarov said. He said an attack on another refinery had been foiled. No casualties have been reported.
A Ukrainian drone also droppedan explosive near a polling station in Ukraine’s illegally annexed Zaporizhia region, Russia’s official Tass news agency reported. No injuries or damage were reported.
These attacks come a day after a Russian assault on Ukrainian port city of Odessa killed at least 21 people. The ballistic missile attack destroyed homes in the southern city on Friday, followed by a second missile that targeted first responders who arrived at the scene, officials said.
More than 50 people are still hospitalized following the attacks, Odessa Deputy Mayor Svitlana Bedreha said on Saturday, according to Ukrainian state media.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a “fair answer” to the attack on Odessa.
