June 1, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A 9-year-old girl and her mother were among three people killed following Russian strikes on Kyiv early Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, as a clearer picture emerged of the victims and the damage.

In an update, Ukraine's national police said the girl, her mother, 34, and a 33-year-old woman died. Twelve others were injured, the police said.

Air defenses destroyed all 10 Russian missiles launched at the Ukrainian capital overnight, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said earlier

Falling debris from the missiles damaged a children's clinic, two schools and a police station, according to the Kyiv city military administration. A residential building was also damaged from the blast wave.

The administration had originally stated that two children were among the three people killed.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the girl's mother's age. She was 34.

At least five people were injured in the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod region early Thursday morning by Ukrainian shelling, said Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram. 

Three people have been hospitalized, one woman was treated at the scene, and "there is information about a man who is unconscious with multiple shrapnel wounds," Gladkov said, adding the man was being taken to hospital.

Gladkov earlier reported that two people were injured in the shelling, including a man who was in critical condition after having an arm amputated. 

Residential and administrative buildings were also damaged, according to Gladkov.

Attacks inside Russian: Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, has seen a rise in shelling in recent days following an incursion last week by anti-Putin Russians aligned with the Ukrainian military. Gladkov said Wednesday that children will be evacuated out of Shebekino and the nearby town of Grayvoron. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has called the situation there "alarming."

Ukraine's air force destroyed all 10 missiles launched at Kyiv overnight, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said on Thursday.

Russian forces had targeted "civilian and critical infrastructure" with Iskander short-range missiles, the General Staff said.

Falling debris from the missiles damaged a children's clinic, two schools and a police station, according to the Kyiv city military administration in a Telegram post. A residential building was also damaged from the blast wave.

At least three people, including two children — ages 5 or 6 and 12 or 13 — were killed by falling debris, officials said.

Earlier Thursday, the head of Kyiv's military administration said the strikes were from ground-based tactical missile systems and did not come from planes.

Russia resumed its overnight bombardment of Kyiv early Thursday, launching missile strikes on Ukraine's capital that killed at least three people, including two children.

Meanwhile, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said at least two people were injured by Ukrainian shelling there early on Thursday.

The war has taken a new turn this week amid increased shelling and drone strikes inside Russia’s border, including Moscow. Ukraine has denied involvement in drone attacks on the Russian capital Tuesday, even as one top official made it clear that Russia was getting a taste of its own medicine after months of bombarding Ukrainian cities. 

Here's what to know:

Russian forces used ground-based tactical missile systems to target Kyiv in early Thursday morning strikes, according to a Ukrainian military official.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said the missiles were not fired from planes. Preliminary information showed cruise and ballistic missiles were used, he added.

All identified air targets were shot down by Ukrainian forces, but falling debris resulted in casualties and damage, according to Popko, with three people — including two children — killed and at least 10 people injured.

Earlier, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 14 people were injured in the strikes.

At least three people, including two children, have died, and at least 14 others were injured in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi and Dniprovskyi districts as airstrikes hit the city early Thursday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Nine people were hospitalized and five were treated on site, Klitschko said.

Debris from the strikes hit a health care clinic in Desnianskyi and the windows of a multi-story residential building were also blown out, according to the Kyiv city military administration.

Debris also fell onto the roadway in Dniprovskyi and a car was burning on one of Desnianskyi’s streets, Klitschko said.

At least two people were injured early Thursday in the town of Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, a top official said.

Shelling by Ukrainian forces lasted an hour, according to Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

One of the injured men is in critical condition after having his left arm amputated. The other suffered a concussion and went to the hospital and is in stable condition, according to the governor.

Some background: On Wednesday, a "massive" shelling attack injured four people in Shebekino, Russian officials said. Eight apartment buildings, four homes, a school and two administrative buildings were damaged during the shelling, they said.

There has been a significant drop in hostilities on the ground around the city of Bakhmut as Russian forces rotate in and out of the area, but shelling continues incessantly, Ukrainian officials say.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian military, said Wednesday there had been only two or three clashes in the area over the past two days. But he said the Russians were covering their rotation of forces with artillery fire, and Ukrainian positions had been shelled 343 times Wednesday. In turn, Ukrainian fire killed 78 Russians and destroyed a variety of weapons and ammunition dumps, he said.

The departure of Wagner units and their replacement with Russian regular forces continued, Cherevatyi said.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television the southwestern outskirts of Bakhmut remain under the control of the Ukrainians. 

"In fact, the enemy's offensive activity in the Bakhmut sector has been stopped. [But] the enemy has increased the number of artillery attacks ... The number of attacks today is equal to the times of the heaviest battles for Bakhmut," Maliar said.

Maliar said Ukrainian troops, for now, were not trying to advance on the Russians' flanks but said "the fight for this direction continues."

One soldier in the Bakhmut area, Yurii Syrotiuk of the 5th separate assault brigade, said heavy thunderstorms had interrupted airstrikes but "enemy artillery is actively working," as were mortars and rockets.

Syrotiuk said Russian forces tried to counterattack in recent days, but were unsuccessful. 

"The famous Donbas mud does not allow the movement of people nor equipment," he said, adding that this was impeding the Ukrainians' own efforts to push forward.

He also drew a distinction between the Wagner fighters and Russian regular units, which he said "do not fight like Wagnerites, as they are not being sent as cannon fodder under the threat of execution. So they make very languid attempts of attacks, which we repel and then the enemy artillery starts working."

Further evacuations of women and children are set to take place this week as the Russian border experiences shelling, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, some 300 children were evacuated from Belgorod to the Voronezh area.

Gladkov added that 200 people, including mothers with small children and grandmothers, would be evacuated to the Penza region on Thursday.

On Saturday, 300 children will be sent from the Grayvoron district to the city of Yaroslavl and 300 from Shebekino district will be sent to the Kaluga region, Gladkov said.

Gladkov also said he spoke with the governors of the Lipetsk and Tomsk regions, who agreed to take 200 evacuees each, consisting of families with small children.

Increased shelling: Gladkov reported more shelling late Wednesday by Ukrainian forces, saying an industrial plant close to the town of Shebekino had been struck.

"The situation in Shebekino is not getting better," Gladkov said in a live broadcast. "There is shelling of Shebekino, there is a fire at one of the industrial enterprises."

Gladkov gave no details of casualties.

Shebekino and other border districts have seen an increase in cross-border mortar and artillery fire in recent days. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday the "situation is rather alarming" in Belgorod. At least one person was killed and six injured in strikes on the Russian territory, officials said.