The governor of the Belgorod region said that there were no victims in the village of Zhuravlevka near the border with Ukraine.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a village near the border with Ukraine on Friday, but there were no casualties or damage.
The governor said this on Saturday during a daily briefing on his Telegram channel, without providing visual evidence. There were no comments from the Ukrainian authorities.
“In the Belgorod region, 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from a multiple launch rocket system were fired at the village of Zhuravlevka,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
This month, Ukraine received cluster bombs from the US , but has pledged to use them only to knock out swarms of enemy soldiers.
They contain dozens of small bombs that scatter fragments over a wide area, but are banned in many countries because of the potential danger they pose to civilians. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that their use will be limited to the battlefield.
The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under repeated indiscriminate shelling by what Russia calls the Ukrainian armed forces.
In May and June, the region was rocked by violence after fighters from a pro-Ukrainian armed group crossed the border and clashed with Russian security forces.
Ukraine does not take responsibility for attacks on Russian territory and denies any involvement in cross-border raids.
Drone attack in Crimea
Meanwhile, an ammunition depot in Crimea caught fire on Saturday after a Ukrainian drone attacked the Black Sea peninsula, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor said, adding that traffic on a bridge linking Crimea with Russia had been suspended.
“As a result of an enemy drone raid on the Krasnogvardeisky district, an explosion occurred at an ammunition depot,” official Sergei Aksenov said on Telegram.
“A decision has been made to evacuate people (living) within five kilometers (3.1 miles) of the zone,” he said. According to Moscow-appointed Governor Aksyonov, there are no reports of deaths or injuries yet. He added that an order had been given to evacuate nearby villages.
Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014 , has been a target for Russian offensives in Ukraine but has come under increasing attack in recent weeks.
Videos showing a large fire are circulating on the Internet, and explosions can be heard in some of the videos. There were initial reports of an attack on a fuel depot.
Rail traffic has resumed after being suspended earlier, Aksyonov said on Telegram.
Russia accuses Ukraine of committing terrorist attacks on the bridge. However, while officials in Kyiv welcomed them, they refused to take responsibility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that the bridge is a legitimate target because it is a military supply route for Russia.
“This is the route used to supply the war with ammunition, and this is done on a daily basis,” he said.
On Monday, the road was put out of action after an attack that killed two people. The bridge has only recently returned to full service after it was damaged by a bomb last October.
Source: Al Jazeera
