He said three Ukrainian “kamikaze drones” hit the village of Rozhdestvenska, close to the border with Ukraine, in a region that has come under frequent artillery, rocket and drone attacks throughout the two-year conflict.

“As a result of the explosions, two people were killed and a third man was seriously wounded,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram.

An ambulance crew had been dispatched to the site to treat the victims, Gladkov added.

In a series of earlier statements, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence forces had downed several Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region throughout this morning.

Both Russia and Ukraine regularly fire explosive-packed drones at each other’s territory in an attempt to strike targets behind the frontlines.