By The Associated Press
Russia intends to move approximately 9,000 children from a border region because Ukraine is continuously shelling the area, according to an official on Tuesday. This reflects Kyiv’s increased focus on attacking targets beyond the front line, which has not moved much in recent months.
The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslev Gladkov, said the children will be relocated farther east from the Ukraine border.
This announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the Kremlin aims to establish a buffer zone to protect border regions from long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids, more than two years into the war.
Ukraine has used long-range firepower to target oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia and has tried to disturb the Russian border regions, putting pressure on Putin.
Moreover, Russian opponents of Putin and the Kremlin based in Ukraine have launched cross-border raids. Putin discussed these incursions during a meeting with top officials of the Federal Security Service, the FSB, on Tuesday.
Civilian areas of Belgorod have been heavily impacted by the fighting. According to Gladkov, 16 people died and 98 were injured in the last week alone. Due to the security situation, shopping malls were ordered to close from Saturday to Monday and schools from Saturday to Tuesday.
The planned evacuation of children is one of the largest publicly announced in the Belgorod region since the war began in February 2022. Last June, about 1,000 individuals, including children and their families, were evacuated to other Russian regions, and there have been sporadic reports of evacuations over the past year.
It is unclear whether adults would accompany the children under the latest evacuation order, which could significantly increase the total number of evacuees.
Approximately 600 people were in temporary housing on Monday after being evacuated from their homes, according to Gladkov.
Gladkov reported that three people were injured in an aerial attack from Ukraine on the Belgorod region on Tuesday, including a 14-year-old who had part of a limb amputated. His mother was also seriously injured in the attack.
The day before, Gladkov stated that four members of the same family were killed in an attack on the village of Nikolskoe in Belgorod. A missile hit their house, resulting in the deaths of a grandmother, mother, her partner, and 17-year-old son.
It has not been possible to independently confirm the battlefield claims of either side.
The Russian defense ministry reported that two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Belgorod, and another was shot down over the neighboring Voronezh region overnight. However, no details about damage or injuries were provided.
Meanwhile, Russia used S-300 missiles to attack the city of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine overnight. According to the regional prosecutor’s office, four people were injured, and houses and cars were damaged.
On Monday, Russian attacks in the Donetsk region resulted in the death of one person and the injury of another, according to Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Ukraine’s Western allies on Tuesday to swiftly provide more air defense systems and described the extent of the challenge Kyiv’s forces are facing. He stated that in the current month, Russia has utilized 130 missiles of different kinds, over 320 Shahed drones, and almost 900 guided air bombs to aim at various areas of Ukraine.
Ukraine has increased its defense production and aims to reach levels not seen since the country became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, according to Zelenskyy. However, it still heavily relies on Western assistance, which has decreased in recent months.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Adm. Alexander Moiseyev was introduced as the new acting head of the Russian navy during a ceremony at a naval base in Kronstadt, in the Gulf of Finland. Russian media reported last week that the previous navy chief, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, had been dismissed and replaced with Moiseyev, the commander of the navy’s northern fleet.
Yevmenov’s replacement came after a series of successful attacks by Ukrainian drones and missiles on the Russian Black Sea fleet, which have led Moscow to limit its naval operations in the area.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
