Ukrainian attacks in the city of Belgorod killed one man late yesterday and two children today, while a child was also killed by shelling in the Bryansk region, officials said.

“The Ukrainian armed forces shelled the centre of Belgorod. According to preliminary information, there are two dead children and injured,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

A man was killed and four others injured in a separate attack on Belgorod the night before, Gladkov said, while dozens of homes and buildings across the region were damaged.

Belgorod is about 30km from the border with Ukraine and has been repeatedly targeted by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Kyiv’s forces.

A child was also killed by Ukrainian shelling in the border region of Bryansk, local governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on social media today.

Separately, Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 32 Ukrainian drones over the border regions of Bryansk and Kursk, as well as the regions of Oryol and Moscow.

The attacks come a day after Russian forces launched a barrage of airstrikes across Ukraine in one of the deadliest attacks since the conflict began last year.

At least 39 people were killed, including 16 in the capital Kyiv, authorities said, as rescuers continued to comb through the rubble today.