Russia says village in Belgorod province struck by Ukrainian forces

Governor says one local resident injured in the attack

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod province has said that a village that borders Ukraine has been struck by Ukrainian forces.

Russia’s RIA reported that the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on his Telegram channel that the Ukrainian military shelled the village of Golovchino near the border.

He said: “There was shelling from the Ukrainian side of the village of Golovchino, Graivoronsky district. There is destruction. Now there is a door-to-door detour. I will give more detailed information later.”

He said that one local resident was injured in the attack.

“She is now receiving all the necessary medical care,” he added.

RIA reported that the distance from the border to the village of Golovchino is about 10km.

Just a few days ago, Mr Gladkov had also reported on his Telegram channel that “the village of Spodaryushino has been subjected to fire from Ukraine.”

He added that no one had been injured and that the village and one other settlement had been evacuated.

Earlier this month, Mr Gladkov had also claimed that an oil storage depot in Belgorod was attacked by two Ukrainian helicopters. Firefighters were seen tackling the blaze at the oil storage depot. And the resulting fire forced many people to evacuate but later in the day, Belgorod mayor Anton Ivanov had said that the fire services were extinguishing the last remnants of the blaze.

“There is no threat to human life and health. All residents can return to their homes,” he had said.

Ukraine had meanwhile, denied the accusation. “For some reason, they say that we did it, but according to our information this does not correspond to reality,” Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said.

However, earlier, the defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said he would neither confirm nor deny a Ukrainian role. “Ukraine is currently conducting a defensive operation against Russian aggression on the territory of Ukraine, and this does not mean that Ukraine is responsible for every catastrophe on Russia’s territory,” he said.