Ukraine strikes Russia's Belgorod: Tuchka-U missile kills at least 4

Maria Zakharova, an official representative for the Russian Foreign Ministry, commented on the attack that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) conducted on the Russian city of Belgorod.

According to Zakharova, Kyiv and its Western curators will have to pay a price if they continue provocations on Russian territory.

"We have so far refrained from taking such steps, but we will be monitoring the development of the situation very closely,” she added.

According to Zakharova, Kyiv's decision to strike a missile blow on Belgorod was most likely based on instructions from the West. They act so to push Moscow to retaliate and to "spin the anti-Russian hysteria further," Zakharova added.

Earlier, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov, a representative of the Russian Defence Ministry, said that Kyiv had carried out a deliberate strike with the use of ballistic missiles and drones on residential areas of the cities of Belgorod and Kursk, where there are no military facilities.

According to Konashenkov, the strikes were carried out from 03:00 to 03:30 a.m. Moscow time. Ukraine used Tochka-U missiles with cluster munitions and Tu-143 Reis drones in the attacks on the Russian cities.

Official statement from the Defence Ministry: 

• At night, Kyiv launched a deliberate attack with the use of Tochka-U missiles with cluster munitions and Tu-143 Reis drones on residential areas of Belgorod and Kursk.
• All three missiles launched at Belgorod were destroyed in the air by air defense systems.
• As a result of the destruction of the Ukrainian missiles, the wreckage of one of them fell on a residential building in Belgorod.
• Russian air defense systems destroyed two Ukrainian Tu-143 Reis drones with explosives as they were approaching the city of Kursk.

Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on the situation in the city:

• Three people were killed.
• Four people were injured, two of them were taken to the hospital - a man and a child of 10 years old. The man remains in critical condition.
• Five private houses were completely destroyed.
• At least 34 private residential buildings on Mayakovsky, Popov, Pavlov streets were partially destroyed.
• Eleven apartment buildings on Mayakovsky, Michurin, Chumichov, Popov and Pavlov were partially destroyed.

Update: 

The death toll has climbed to four. One of them is a citizen of the Russian Federation, the other three are citizens of Ukraine. Two people went missing, including a child.