Ukraine drone strike on Russia’s Belgorod ‘kills one’

Ukraine has been under attack from Russia since February 2022. Photo / Getty Images

One person has been killed and another three injured in a drone strike on the village of Vyazovoe in Russia’s Belgorod region, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says.

Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app that the drone had attacked a bus belonging to an agricultural enterprise in the village, which is close to the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Belgorod region has come under regular Ukrainian drone, artillery and ground attacks since Russia ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February, 2022.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Mali’s decision to cut diplomatic ties was short-sighted and hasty, insisting there was no evidence Ukraine had played any role in fighting that killed Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries last month.

Mali announced on Sunday it was immediately severing relations after remarks by Ukraine’s military spy agency about the fighting in northern Mali late last month.

During the clashes, Tuareg rebels said they killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers.

After the fighting, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military spy agency, said in televised remarks that Malian rebels had received the “necessary” information to conduct the attack.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it was “regrettable” that Mali decided to sever relations “without conducting a thorough study of the facts and circumstances, and without providing any evidence of Ukraine’s involvement”.

Mali said it had learned “with deep shock of the subversive remarks” by the Ukrainian spokesman, describing them as an admission of involvement and condemning actions that “violated the sovereignty of Mali” and equating them to supporting international terrorism.

Ukrainian foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba rejected the allegation of Ukrainian support for international terrorism.

“Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” the ministry said.