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Damaged town hall in Belgorod on March 12, 2024: shelling from Ukraine
Photo: Yevgeny Silantyev / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
According to official reports, the border region of Belgorod came under fire again on the first day of the much-criticized Russian "presidential election."
According to initial findings, two people were injured, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram on Friday morning.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, seven Ukrainian missiles were fired over Belgorod.
This could not initially be independently verified.
The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported that people had to leave the polling stations and seek refuge in shelters.
The election, which is supposed to secure Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's fifth term in office, is scheduled for three days until Sunday evening.
Moscow claims Ukrainian forces wanted to fly to Russia in a helicopter
Moscow blames neighboring Ukraine, against which Putin has been waging a brutal war of aggression for more than two years, for the shelling.
In fact, paramilitary organizations often appear to be behind the attacks. Although they fight on the Ukrainian side, they consist primarily of Russian nationalists.
The associations, which have names like the “Russian Volunteer Corps,” say they have fought battles with the Russian army in the border area in recent days and have now announced further attacks on social media.
In addition, Ukraine tried to fly armed forces to the Russian Belgorod region by helicopter, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.
Accordingly, Russian troops prevented a Ukrainian attempt to cross the border.
Information from Moscow has often turned out to be untrue in the past.
Belgorod is located in the border region and is therefore repeatedly affected by fighting.
However, the damage and number of victims are generally disproportionate to those in Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia.
aka/dpa/Reuters