Five people killed in Ukrainian strike on apartment block
Five civilians were killed when Ukrainian troops struck a five-story apartment block in the city of Shebekino in Russia’s western Belgorod Region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in the early hours of Saturday.
The death toll rose as rescuers recovered more bodies from the rubble of the residential building, which partially collapsed following the strike on Friday.
Gladkov initially said that seven residents were hospitalized. He later wrote on Telegram that a female victim had succumbed to her wounds.
Shebekino is located near the border with Ukraine. It has been a frequent target of rocket and drone attacks since February 2022, when Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state.
Also on Friday, a Ukrainian kamikaze drone hit a car in the village of Murom near Shebekino, killing the driver, Gladkov said. On the same day, a woman was killed when a rocket struck her home in the village of Oktyabrsky, while another person was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds after the village of Arkhangelskoye was shelled.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of indiscriminately firing at cities and deliberately targeting civilians, including with Western-supplied ammunition.
