War in Ukraine: Belgorod border region: Russia reports further attacks with deaths and injuries

Tense situation in Belgorod: According to information from Moscow, at least eleven volunteers for the fight in Ukraine were killed and 15 others injured in an attack on a military site in the Russian border region with Ukraine.

War in Ukraine: Belgorod border region: Russia reports further attacks with deaths and injuries

Tense situation in Belgorod: According to information from Moscow, at least eleven volunteers for the fight in Ukraine were killed and 15 others injured in an attack on a military site in the Russian border region with Ukraine. On Sunday, too, the authorities reported attacks on the region again - as recently almost every day. Meanwhile, the first Russian soldiers arrived in Belarus on Saturday.

"Two citizens of a CIS country" carried out "a terrorist attack" on the training ground in the Belgorod region on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is an association of former Soviet republics.

The perpetrators opened fire on the unit with automatic weapons during target practice by "volunteers for special military operations" in Ukraine, it said. The "terrorists" were shot. The Ministry did not provide any further information on the identity of the attackers.

Four weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists after setbacks by the Russian army in Ukraine. After the plans were announced, there had been protests and attacks on recruitment offices. Thousands of men also fled abroad.

The Russian authorities are currently reporting Ukrainian attacks from the border region of Belgorod on an almost daily basis. According to the information, at least four people were injured in bombings in the region on Sunday.

Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told the Telegram online service that three members of a family were injured in bombing raids in the regional capital of Belgorod. In addition, an elderly man was injured in shelling near Belgorod.

Gladkow said more than 20 homes in the area were damaged. He published photos of destruction and craters after attacks.

The Russian investigative committee responsible for prosecuting serious crimes said "about 16 explosions" could be heard in the city of Belgorod on Sunday. Unlike the rest of the region, the city of 330,000 had rarely been hit by shelling before.

According to the governor, a fuel depot near the regional capital was also shot at on Saturday. "One of the shells hit the oil depot in the Belgorod region," Gladkov said. The emergency services are on site, there is "no risk" that the fire will spread, it said. On Friday, after an attack on a power plant, the power went out at times.

Meanwhile, 250 kilometers to the south, near the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian soldiers are in an extremely difficult situation, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Bakhmut, a salt-mining and wine-producing town in the Donetsk region that once had a population of around 70,000, has been under siege by Russian troops for weeks.

The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Russia has declared annexed, remains "very serious," Zelensky said on Saturday. "Like the past few days, it's the most difficult in Bachmut. But we're still holding our positions," he continued. Last week, pro-Russian separatists reported the capture of two villages near Bakhmuts.

The first Russian soldiers also arrived in Belarus on Saturday. The two countries are expanding their cooperation with a joint military unit. The announcement of a joint military alliance had sparked fears that Belarusian soldiers could be deployed alongside the Russian army in eastern Ukraine.

Pictures released by the Minsk Defense Ministry showed Russian soldiers being greeted with bread and salt by Belarusian women in traditional costume. The mission of the soldiers is "exclusively to strengthen the protection and defense of the border," it said.

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