MOSCOW (Reuters) – Shelling by the Ukrainian military killed five civilians and wounded several others in different districts of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Friday, the Russia-installed leader of the region said.
Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, proclaimed long before Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app that three people died in the city’s Kirov district. Two more were killed in the village of Luhanske just outside Donetsk.
Reuters could not independently verify his assertion and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
In a separate incident, authorities in the Russian city of Belgorod reported that a residential building had been hit by a Ukrainian drone. There were no casualties, they said.
The Russian Defence Ministry said Russian air defence forces had downed seven drones over the Belgorod region around 1600-1630 local time.
Belgorod regional Governor Vyachslav Gladkov reported on Telegram after midnight that air defence units had downed a new wave of airborne objects over the region. He said there were no injuries, but gave no further details.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Ron Popeski and Leslie Adler)
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