MOSCOW (Reuters) – Six people, including one child, were killed on Friday in a Ukrainian missile attack on the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk region, the acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said.
Ten wounded people, including a 13-year-old, were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.
“What happened today is a huge tragedy for all of us,” he said. “We grieve together with the families of the victims. No one will be left without support.”
He said that those responsible for the attack would receive “well-deserved retribution”.
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said Moscow will raise the issue of the missile strike at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, the TASS state news agency reported.
Earlier, Khinshtein said Ukraine had fired U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets, damaging several buildings including a school, recreation centre and private residences in Rylsk, located some 16 miles (26 km) from the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region.
An unconfirmed earlier report by the Mash Telegram channel, which is close to Russian law enforcement, put the death toll at seven.
The channel published unverified video showing damaged buildings and cars on fire in a city street.
Ukrainian troops still hold part of Kursk region after bursting across the border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6. Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual press conference on Thursday that they would definitely be expelled, but declined to set a date for when this would happen.
Khinshtein, who served as a State Duma deputy until he was appointed acting governor of Kursk by Putin earlier this month, accused Kyiv of deliberating targeting civilians in the strike.
Both Ukraine and Russia regularly accuse the other of attacking non-combatants, and both deny it.
Tensions between the warring sides have ratcheted up since Tuesday, when a top Russian general, Igor Kirillov, was killed by a bomb in Moscow. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service claimed responsibility for the assassination.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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