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On December 18, the Russian of city of Belgorod and several other settlement located near the Ukrainian border came under massive attack of Ukrainian forces.
Yesterday was an “extremely difficult day” for the Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The AFU targeted the residential areas and civilian facilities in the city of Belgorod and nearby. According to the local reports, at least 12 explosions sounded over the city. The city was reportedly targeted with missiles and UAVs.
All the missiles were reportedly shot down by Russian air defense systems, but the debris that fell on the city caused some damaged.
As a result of the attack on a local poultry farm, at least one civilian was killed and several others were wounded. In total, as a result of Ukrainian attempts to hit the city of Belgorod, 1 civilian was killed, 10 others were wounded, 75 residential, industrial buildings and apartments, as well as 40 cars were damaged during the shelling.
About 14 thousand people were left without electricity in the Belgorod region after the shelling, the Governor said.
“As a result of the shelling of the AFU in the Shebekinsky city district, the power supply was disrupted. About 14 thousand residents remain without electricity. Emergency crews are starting to reconnect to backup power sources,” he wrote on his telegram channel.
The Russian settlements located near the Ukrainian border are also constantly shelled by the Ukrainian military.
At night, the AFU shelled the village of Krasnaya Yaruga in the Belgorod region. As a result of the attack, two civilians were wounded.
On December 18th, the local sources shared to photos of the debris that fell in the area after the targets were intercepted by Russian air defence means.
One of the published photo shows the marking BSU-59/B, which marks the US-made AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile.
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On December 19th, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that 4 US-made HARM missiles were shot down in the airspace of the Russian Belgorod region.
The AFU had already used these foreign missiles to attack the Russian Belgorod region in October.
Ukrainian Air Force fighters with American AGM-88 HARM missiles likely took off from the Mirgorod airbase in the Poltava region, which is located 150 kilometers from the border with the Belgorod region. It was earlier reported that Ukrainian HARM carriers are working from the airbase.
The Ukrainian Mirgorod airfield has already been hit by Russian forces. However, the recent strikes confirm that the damage to the military facility was not enough to prevent the Ukrainian Air Force from using the airfield to launch the strikes on Russian territory.
