Two killed, 12 injured in Russian shelling on Ukraine’s Kherson

Russian shelling killed two people and injured at least 12 on Thursday in different areas of southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, local officials said.

Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a 75-year-old woman had died in the evening in her apartment in Kherson, the region’s largest town, as Russian forces shelled from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that they largely occupy.

Eight people were injured, he wrote on Telegram.

Prokudin had earlier reported an afternoon attack in the village of Bilozerka on the Dnipro’s west bank. The body of a man was found under rubble and a man and three women were being treated in hospital.

“A critical infrastructure object was also destroyed. Now Bilozerka and surrounding villages are without electricity,” Prokudin said on Telegram.

A grocery store and houses were also damaged, he said. Images from the site shared by Prokudin showed a one-storey building with shattered windows and damage to the walls, as well as several cars covered with traces of shelling.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Russian troops abandoned Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River late last year, but now regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.

Ukrainian officials this week said their forces had crossed the river and were operating on the eastern bank.