Ukrainian officials say Russia has fired cruise and ballistic missiles at a broad area of Ukraine in a morning attack
Russia fired cruise and ballistic missiles at a broad area of Ukraine early Thursday, hitting multiple regions hours after a midnight strike in the country’s northeast killed four people in an apartment building, authorities said.
Meanwhile, inside Russia, officials said Ukraine fired rockets against the border city of Belgorod, where Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said a shopping mall was hit and at least two people were killed.
Air defense systems destroyed 14 rockets over the wider Belgorod region on Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said. It said Ukraine launched them from a RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket system around midday local time.
Belgorod city, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Ukrainian border, has been a regular target of Ukrainian fire, putting its residents on edge. Dozens of people were killed and injured in an attack there over Russia’s New Year holiday weekend.
Those assaults have undermined President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to reassure Russians that life in the country is largely going on as normal.
In Ukraine, five people were injured in the nighttime attack on the city of Chuhuiv, in the Kharkiv border region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
