By Dmitri Chirciu
MOSCOW (AA) – Five Russians were killed and 20 others injured in a Ukrainian army attack on a 10-story building in Belgorod city, the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, officials in Moscow said on Sunday.
The Ukrainian army's assault on Belgorod killed five people, the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement, with Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirming that 20 people were injured in the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry in a separate statement called it a "terrorist attack" in which missiles and rockets were used.
Air defense systems intercepted and destroyed several Ukrainian missiles and cannon shells, the statement added.
The attack by the Ukrainian army caused significant structural damage to a 10-story building, and rescuers recovered five bodies from the rubble, it added.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said additional medical teams have been dispatched to the scene as part of the emergency response.
President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the situation by Emergency Situations Minister Aleksandr Kurenkov and Governor Gladkov.
*Writing by Muhammed Yasin Gungor in Istanbul