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MOSCOW: Ukrainian bombardments killed two people and set an oil facility ablaze in Russia on Saturday, the second day of showpiece elections guaranteed to cement President Vladimir Putin’s hardline rule.
Presidential polls opened this week but voting has been marred by an uptick in fatal Ukrainian aerial attacks and a series of incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups.
Fresh bombardments prompted authorities to close schools and shopping centres in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, undermining the Kremlin’s efforts to isolate Russians from its two-year conflict with Kyiv.
Putin, who cast his vote online, has vowed a harsh response to the assaults and accused Ukraine of trying to “disrupt” his bid for another six-year mandate.
The Belgorod governor said two residents were killed on Saturday. “A man was driving a lorry when a shell hit him, after which the vehicle crashed into a passenger bus. The people on it were not injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media. “Another woman was killed in a parking lot.”
Throughout Saturday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed rockets, missiles and drones over Belgorod and Kursk, another border region that has seen an uptick in attacks.
It also said Russian forces had fought off more attempted infiltrations by “Ukrainian militant sabotage and reconnaissance groups”.
Kremlin proxy officials in the occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine meanwhile said one person was killed and four wounded in a drone attack.
Presidential polls opened this week but voting has been marred by an uptick in fatal Ukrainian aerial attacks and a series of incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups.
Fresh bombardments prompted authorities to close schools and shopping centres in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, undermining the Kremlin’s efforts to isolate Russians from its two-year conflict with Kyiv.
Putin, who cast his vote online, has vowed a harsh response to the assaults and accused Ukraine of trying to “disrupt” his bid for another six-year mandate.
The Belgorod governor said two residents were killed on Saturday. “A man was driving a lorry when a shell hit him, after which the vehicle crashed into a passenger bus. The people on it were not injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media. “Another woman was killed in a parking lot.”
Throughout Saturday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed rockets, missiles and drones over Belgorod and Kursk, another border region that has seen an uptick in attacks.
It also said Russian forces had fought off more attempted infiltrations by “Ukrainian militant sabotage and reconnaissance groups”.
Kremlin proxy officials in the occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine meanwhile said one person was killed and four wounded in a drone attack.
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