MOSCOW: Ukraine attacked a number of villages in Russia’s Belgorod border region and the occupied eastern city of Lysychansk on Wednesday, killing two people, authorities and Russian media said.

Belgorod sits directly across the border from Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, an area that has seen intense fighting since Russia launched a major ground assault on May 10.

“Several air targets were shot down as they approached the village of Belenkoye. To our great sorrow, one civilian was killed,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Two killed by Russian shelling in south Ukraine

One civilian in the Russian village of Belenkoye was injured, while a Ukrainian aerial attack near the town of Shebekino, close to the border, wounded another, he said.

The Kremlin says its new Kharkiv offensive is aimed at creating a “security zone” to prevent future Ukrainian attacks on its border region.

Moscow has claimed to have captured a dozen Ukrainian villages and made its most significant territorial gains in 18 months.

Separately, Ukraine shelled Lysychansk in the eastern Lugansk region, leaving “one dead and two wounded”, Russia’s TASS news agency reported, citing Russian-installed authorities.

Lysychansk was captured by Russian forces in mid-2022 and lies close to the eastern front.