RUSSIA - Nine people have been killed and 23 injured, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on Russia, local officials have said.

Eight people were killed in the western Belgorod region bordering Ukraine in the past 24 hours. A woman died overnight in the southern Astrakhan region. Ukraine said two people were killed in Russian drone attacks on the north-eastern Sumy region, and another two in the eastern Donetsk region. The strikes come a night after what Russia described as the "largest-scale" attack by Ukraine this year, in which at least seven people were killed. Russian attacks on Ukraine also killed at least seven people and injured more than 39 on Saturday night. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls approximately a fifth of Ukrainian territory. The latest Ukrainian strikes burned a building and damaged a car in Belgorod's village of Koloskovo, acting regional Governor Alexandr Shuvaev said. The injured child was sent to hospital while two others received medical assistance, he added. Meanwhile, a woman was killed after a drone strike hit a home in the Astrakhan region, the local governor said on Monday. Igor Babushkin added that the Ukrainian strike targeted an industrial facility but that it had not been damaged. In Ukraine, two people were killed in Russian strikes on the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, the state emergencies service DSNS said. (BBC)