Russian shelling kills five in Ukrainian regions, one dead on Russian side of border

KYIV (Reuters) -Russian shelling killed at least five civilians on Saturday in separate regions of Ukraine, officials said.

In the Kherson region, in Ukraine’s south, officials said three people were killed, one in the administrative centre also called Kherson, one outside the city and one near the city of Beryslav, to the north.

Kherson region was occupied in the first days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but Ukrainian troops recaptured large swathes of it later in the year. Russian troops continue to shell Ukrainian-held areas from new positions.

In the northeastern Sumy region, a border area frequently under Russian attack, a 14-year-old boy was killed and 12 other people wounded in a rocket attack on the small town of Hlukhiv, the Ukraine prosecutor’s office said.

The attack on the town near the Russian border hit apartment blocks, houses, an educational institution, a shop and vehicles just after noon. Six of the wounded were children.

In Kharkiv region, another frequent Russian target further east, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed when a private home near the city of Chuhuiv came under fire.

Over the border, in southern Russia’s Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks had killed one person, injured two and damaged homes and other buildings.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said air defence units had destroyed two drones over the region late on Saturday.

Reuters could not confirm accounts from either side independently.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Ron Popeski; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Rod Nickel and Sandra Maler)