🔴 Live: Drone strikes hit Russia region bordering Ukraine, says governor

Issued on: 23/05/2023 – 08:16

8:44am: Governor says drones shot down over Russia’s Belgorod region amid fighting

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Tuesday that drones had been shot down over the region by anti-aircraft weaponry.

There has been fighting in the region, which borders Ukraine, since Monday, after what Russian officials called a Ukrainian “sabotage group” crossed the border.

8:04am: Drone strikes hit Russia region bordering Ukraine, says governor

Several drones struck Russia’s border region of Belgorod overnight, a day after an armed group infiltrated the area from Ukraine, the local governor said on Tuesday.

The drones struck houses and a government building but did not result in casualties or deaths, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

7:58am: Russian PM arrives in China for talks with Xi, business forum

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in China, Moscow’s foreign ministry said, for a visit in which he will meet with President Xi Jinping and ink a series of deals on infrastructure and trade.

Mishustin arrived late Monday in Shanghai, the ministry said, where he was greeted at the airport by Moscow’s ambassador to China Igor Morgulov and Beijing’s top diplomat to Russia Zhang Hanhui.

He will take part in a Russian-Chinese Business Forum and visit a petrochemical research institute in Shanghai, the Kremlin said, as well as hold talks with “representatives of Russian business circles”.

7:30am: ‘Counter-terrorism operation’ in Russia’s Belgorod region continues, says governor

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Tuesday the “counter-terrorism operation” in the region was ongoing, with the defence ministry and law enforcement agencies continuing “to clean up” the territory on the border with Ukraine.

“On the situation in the Graivoron district: the cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defence together with law enforcement agencies continues,” the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on the Telegram messaging app.

“I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, who … temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet.”

• Key developments from Monday, May 22

Moscow said Monday that its troops were battling a Ukrainian “sabotage” group that infiltrated the southern Russian region of Belgorod as locals fled the latest bout of fighting in the troubled territory.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine and was being repelled.

The Kremlin said the incursion aimed to distract attention from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces claim to have captured in its entirety after more than nine months of fighting.

Despite Russian claims to have captured the city, top military leaders in Ukraine insist the grinding nine-month battle there is not over.

Although Ukraine now controls only a small part of the city, Kyiv says its troops played a key role in the strategy of exhausting Russian forces and will carry on fighting. Tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides have died.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)