Kiev’s drone and missile attacks left multiple people wounded in Belgorod and Kursk, according to local governors
Ukrainian forces launched multiple drone and missile attacks on Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions, damaging residential property and injuring civilians — including in targeted strikes on moving vehicles.
A missile hit the town of Rylsk in the Kursk Region on Sunday, injuring three people, according to acting regional head Aleksandr Khinshtein. The blast heavily damaged a hotel and several nearby homes, with a video he shared on Telegram showing shattered windows and a torn roof.
“Two men suffered serious shrapnel wounds to the head and arms, as well as bone fractures — they are in critical condition. A woman received shrapnel wounds to the forearm and thigh, but her life is not in danger,” Khinshtein wrote, adding that all victims are receiving the best medical assistance available.
The assault on the neighboring Belgorod Region involved drone strikes in several locations. One woman was injured when a UAV, operated remotely via live video feed, struck her moving car on the Krasny Oktyabr–Bessonovka road, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
“She was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds to her arm and leg,” he wrote. In a similar incident in the village of Borki, a 17-year-old boy suffered a leg injury when an FPV drone struck a vehicle. Another civilian sustained barotrauma and shrapnel wounds to the back in an attack on Bogun-Gorodok village.
Additional strikes caused damage across several areas. In Arkhangelskoye, windows were broken in a private home. A production facility was hit in Sobolevka. Vehicles were struck in Urazovo and along the Arkatovo–Posokhovo road. In Chaiki, a drone exploded mid-air, damaging an agricultural building.
Last year, Kiev targeted the Kursk Region in a major incursion, briefly capturing some border territories that Ukrainian officials hoped to use as leverage in future peace negotiations. The Russian military announced the full liberation of the area in late April, but Kiev said its cross-border operations continue, now increasingly using drones and missiles.
During President Vladimir Putin’s unilaterally declared Victory Day truce from May 8 to May 11, Ukrainian forces attempted five cross-border incursions into the Belgorod and Kursk regions, all of which failed, according to Russian officials.
Despite Ukraine’s repeated refusal to honor past ceasefires — and efforts to “intimidate” world leaders who gathered in Moscow for the anniversary celebrations — on Sunday, Putin again offered Kiev the opportunity to restart direct negotiations without any preconditions in Istanbul. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, however, reiterated that Kiev expects nothing less than a full 30-day ceasefire before any talks can resume.
