Fatal Ukrainian strikes rock Russia as vote cements Putin’s grip

AFP | Moscow, Russia                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ukrainian bombardments killed two people and set an oil facility ablaze in Russia on Saturday, the second day of showpiece elections guaranteed to cement President Vladimir Putin’s hardline rule.

Presidential polls opened this week but voting has been marred by an uptick in fatal Ukrainian aerial attacks and a series of incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups.

Fresh bombardments prompted authorities to close schools and shopping centres in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, undermining the Kremlin’s efforts to isolate Russians from its two-year conflict with Kyiv.

Putin, who cast his vote online, has vowed a harsh response to the assaults and accused Ukraine of trying to “disrupt” his bid for another six-year mandate.

The governor of the Belgorod region said air defence systems had downed eight Ukrainian missiles but two residents were killed and others injured.

“A man was driving a lorry when a shell hit him, after which the vehicle crashed into a passenger bus. The people on it were not injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media.

“Another woman was killed in a parking lot where she and her son came to feed the dogs. Medics are fighting for her son’s life,” he added. In a separate post, Gladkov announced that schools and shopping centres in the city of Belgorod and some surrounding districts would close temporarily over the coming days, the second time this month.

Russia’s defence ministry earlier said it had downed rockets, missiles and drones in the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk that have suffered an uptick in fatal attacks in recent weeks.

Ukrainian attacks on Russia have extended well beyond border regions too with Kyiv’s forces targeting oil facilities deep inside Russian territory over recent weeks.

The governor of the Samara region that lies around 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the front lines said Saturday that Ukrainian drones had targeted two oil refineries, igniting a blaze at one of them.

An defence source in Kyiv told AFP the attack was planned by the SBU security services as part of “a strategy to disrupt the economic potential of Russia”.