At least 15 people were killed when an apartment building in Russia was hit by the fragments of a downed Ukrainian missile, Russian officials said Monday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the border Belgorod region so far in the war.
The strike Sunday caused part of the building to collapse, with regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov saying that 15 bodies were ultimately pulled from the rubble while another 27 people were wounded in attacks throughout the region. Russia’s Defense Ministry said at least 12 missiles had been involved in the attack on Belgorod which it described as a “terrorist attack on residential areas.”
Elsewhere Monday, intense fighting was reported in the town of Vovchansk in northeast Ukraine following a surprise Russian attack in the area on Friday. Only a few hundred people remain in the town, according to Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Suniehubov, as Russian troops approach.
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Moscow’s Defense Ministry claimed over the weekend that its forces had “advanced into the depths” of Ukraine’s defenses and “liberated” multiple settlements in the Kharkhiv region.
“Defensive battles are ongoing, fierce battles, on a large part of our border area,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Sunday. He went on to say that the “situation is extremely difficult” on the outskirts of Vovchansk and that the town is now “under constant Russian fire.”
“Everything depends on what you are capable of in a war,” Zelensky said. “Whether you can withstand the attacks and hold your ground, so that everyone else can do the same. The key is our resilience and Ukrainian results in battles.”
