FILE PHOTO: Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia January 24, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) -A power line and nearly two dozen houses were damaged in Ukraine's latest air attack on the city of Belgorod, with Russia's air forces destroying 25 missiles over the broader Belgorod region, Russian officials said on Tuesday.
"There is one casualty - a woman has received a shrapnel wound to her spine," Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the southern Russian Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said that about 24 houses and a power line were damaged.
Russia's air defence systems destroyed 25 missiles launched by Ukraine from the RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Ukraine's attacks on Belgorod have picked up again in recent months and according to Russia these strikes have become more deadly. Fifteen people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when parts of an apartment block collapsed after being struck by falling missile debris, Russian officials said.
Both Ukraine and Russia say they do not target civilians in the war which erupted when Russia invaded its smaller neighbour in February of 2022, which Moscow has called a "special military operation".
The war has killed thousands, displaced millions and turned Ukrainian cities into rubble.
Kyiv says that targeting Russia's military, transport and energy infrastructure undermines Moscow's war effort and is an answer to the countless deadly attacks by Russia.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
