At least three civilians were wounded on Monday by a Ukrainian artillery attack on the city of Belgorod, according to the regional governor. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Czech-supplied Vampire launchers were used in the strike.
Missile defenses engaged and destroyed ten incoming projectiles, whose origin the MOD identified as an RM-70 Vampire launcher, provided to Ukraine by the Czech Republic over the past two years. The same system was involved in the December 30 attack on the city that killed 24 civilians, including children, and injured over 100.
“Our air defense system worked over Belgorod and the region,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. “Ten aerial targets were shot down on approach to the city.”
Missile alert sirens went off around 9:30 pm local time. Authorities warned residents to seek shelter and stay away from windows. According to preliminary reports, three people, two men and a woman, were injured by shrapnel and taken to a local hospital for medical care.
Gladkov reported the damage on the ground as broken windows in two apartment buildings and a private home, three cars damaged by shrapnel, and four trucks caught in a fire caused by the debris.
The Russian Ministry of Defense added that an unidentified number of drones had also been shot down over Belgorod and Bryansk regions.
Belgorod Region borders the Kharkov Region of Ukraine and has been under sporadic shelling by Kiev’s artillery for months. Ukrainian long-range rocket attacks have been nearly constant since December 30, when missiles with cluster warheads targeted the holiday market in the center of Belgorod city, about 40 km from the Ukrainian border.
Moscow has accused the US and UK of helping plan the strike. A security source also told RT that the attack had been personally ordered by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and carried out by the neo-Nazi Kraken unit based in Kharkov.
Russia has responded to the Belgorod massacre by repeatedly striking key Ukrainian military-industrial complex sites, missile and ammunition warehouses and depots of equipment sent to Kiev by the US and its allies.
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