Russia to evacuate 9,000 children from border region targeted by Ukraine, official says

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• The Russian border region of Belgorod plans to evacuate approximately 9,000 children due to continuous shelling from the Ukrainian side.
• The children will be relocated further eastward away from the Ukraine border, according to Vyacheslev Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod.
• This decision follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of creating a buffer zone to safeguard border regions from Ukrainian strikes.

A Russian border region plans to evacuate some 9,000 children from the area as it is continuously shelled from the Ukrainian side, an official said Tuesday. Kyiv’s forces have increasingly been striking at targets behind the extensive front line that has changed little after more than two years of war.

The children are to be moved further east, away from the Ukraine border, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod border region, Vyacheslev Gladkov, said.

The announcement came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin wants to create a buffer zone to help protect border regions from long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids.

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Ukraine has increasingly used its long-range firepower to hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia and has sought to unsettle the Russian border regions, putting political pressure on Putin.

Emergency ministry employees are seen working at a destroyed building after shelling from the Ukrainian side on March 18, 2024, in Nikolskoye village, Belgorod region, Russia. The region plans to evacuate some 9,000 children from the area. (Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

Three people were wounded in an attack Tuesday from Ukraine on the Belgorod region, Gladkov said, including a 14-year-old who had part of a limb amputated. His mother was also seriously hurt in the attack, he said.

The previous day, four members of the same family died in an attack on the Belgorod village of Nikolskoe, according to Gladkov. A grandmother, mother, her partner and 17-year-old son were killed after a missile struck their house, he said.

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It has not been possible to independently verify either side’s battlefield claims.

Two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Belgorod and another over the neighboring Voronezh region overnight, the Russian defense ministry said. It gave no details of any damage or injuries.

Meanwhile, Russia used S-300 missiles to attack the city of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine overnight. Four people were wounded and houses and cars were damaged, the regional prosecutor’s office said.

On Monday, Russian attacks in Donetsk killed one person and wounded another, according to Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor.