The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Saturday that Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a village near the Ukrainian border on Friday, but that there were no casualties or damage.
“In Belgorod district, 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from a multiple-launch rocket system were fired at the village of Zhuravlevka,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the governor’s statement, which he made in a daily briefing on his Telegram channel, without providing visual evidence. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States this month, but it has pledged to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.
They contain scores of small bomblets that rain shrapnel over a wide area, but are banned in many countries due to the potential danger they pose to civilians.
Ukraine has repeatedly said their use will be limited to the battlefield.
Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, has been repeatedly targeted by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces.
In May and June, the region was rocked by fighting after militants from a pro-Ukrainian armed group crossed the border and started battling with Russian security forces.
Ukraine does not claim responsibility for attacks inside Russian territory and denied it was involved in the cross-border raids.
(Reuters)