Civilian casualties following Ukrainian attack on Russian Belgorod
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Ukrainian forces continue to attack Russian towns, causing electricity sources to be disrupted and civilians to be killed in the process.
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Rescue efforts at the site of a destroyed residential building after Ukrainian shelling in Valuyki in Belgorod, Russia on July 3, 2022 (Reuters)
The governor of the Russian Belgorod Region's town of Valuyki, Vyacheslav Gladkov, stated on Telegram Friday midnight that one civilian was killed and two were injured after a Ukrainian artillery attack, leaving three vehicles damaged and eight residential houses on fire, although medical sources report two additional injuries.
The governor released his statement on Telegram saying: “Air defenses were activated, but there is damage on the ground, the power substation was damaged and the electricity supply to the town was disrupted.” Alternative generators for power were switched in critical facilities and public buildings, but power has been restored by 5:00 am on Friday.
Valuyki is a town hosting 35,000 residents, 150 kilometers east of Belgorod and 15 km north of the Ukrainian border, and became a recent target of Ukrainian shelling following the vacancy of Russian troops in the northeastern portion of the Kharkov Region last week.
Two other communities in the Belgorod region witnessed Ukrainian shelling on Thursday, and a series of chaos broke out, including igniting a fire at a gas station in the border village of Nekhoteevka, and damaging 14 houses in the nearby village of Krasnyi Khutor.
This attack marks the second this week that resulted in civilian casualties, as Kiev's forces shelled the town of Logachevka, south of Valuyki, killing an elderly woman and wounding four civilians - three of which were refugees from Ukraine, according to Gladkov. Logachevka’s power and gas supply was shut off as a result and the administration pertaining to the region ordered the town to be evacuated. Last month, eleven residential buildings and over 30 individual dwellings were also damaged, with five completely demolished.
Despite the constant offensives by Ukrainian forces, especially in light of its attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) attacks, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board still passed a resolution on Thursday calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from the ZNPP.
