A shopping center and a school stadium were hit in the Belgorod attack, according to Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, which is next to Belgorod. “There are many casualties: dead and wounded,” he said on Telegram.Russia’s Ministry of Defense said air defense systems destroyed 14 missiles over the Belgorod region that were launched by Ukraine using a RM-70 Vampire multiple-launch rocket system.Belgorod city, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Ukrainian border, has been a regular target of Ukrainian fire, putting its residents on edge.Dozens of people were killed and injured in an attack there over Russia’s New Year holiday weekend.Those assaults have undermined President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to reassure Russians that life in the country is largely going on as normal.In Ukraine, five people were injured in the nighttime attack on the city of Chuhuiv, in the Kharkiv border region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.Hours later, missiles the targeted the capital Kyiv, the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Lviv in western Ukraine, among other places. The Ukrainian air force said it intercepted 13 of the 26 missiles fired across the country.Frequent Russian long-range bombardments are occurring as the almost two-year war has become bogged down in mostly trench and artillery warfare, which is destructive but is not bringing much change to the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line.Thursday’s barrage was notable for the geographic spread of its targets and the wide variety of missiles deployed by the Kremlin’s forces.Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that one of his priorities is improving Ukraine’s air defense systems. He is due in France on Friday to sign a bilateral security agreement as part of his efforts to ensure continuing Western military support.
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