Open in full screen mode Two people died in the attack in Belgorod , a city very close to Ukraine and often targeted. Agence France-Presse The Russian regions bordering Ukraine suffered new strikes on Saturday, attacks which left at least two dead, in the middle of the presidential election, and which Vladimir Putin, promised a triumphant re-election, has sworn to avenge. In Belgorod, a city very close to Ukraine and often targeted, two people died, a man and a woman, the governor said on Telegram from the region of the same name, Vyacheslav Gladkov, adding that eight rockets had been shot down. He said the man died when his truck was hit, and the woman was killed in a parking lot. The latter's son was seriously injured and doctors are fighting for his life. Two other people were injured. A video, published on social networks, shows a strong explosion in a parking lot, one of the parked cars being projected by the force of the breath. Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that it had shot down missiles, rockets and drones over the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, targeted all week by attacks from neighboring Ukraine. < h3 class="!font-display text-5 leading-5 xsToSm:text-4 font-bold">War in Ukraine
Consult the complete file View full file FollowFollow On Friday, Vladimir Putin vowed that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory would not go “unpunished.” across the border, in response to the offensive and bombing of the country for more than two years. In recent weeks, airstrikes have intensified, and fighters, presenting themselves as anti-Putin Russians, say they are carrying out armed incursions. The Russian army claims to have repelled them. These attacks occur when the Kremlin wants, with the presidential election launched on Friday and which will end on Sunday, display the image of a united Russia behind its leader. According to Vladimir Putin, their aim is to disrupt the vote. There is, however, no doubt about its result, the opposition having been eradicated, but the vote was also marred by several damage to electoral offices on Friday.
War in Ukraine
Several electoral offices were the scene of acts of vandalism on the first day of voting, Friday March 15, 2024.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Around ten people were arrested in several regions for pouring coloring into ballot boxes, throwing a Molotov cocktail at a polling station or setting fire to a voting booth.
The precise reasons for these acts are not known. The head of the electoral commission, Ella Pamfilova, claimed that their perpetrators were acting for money promised by bastards from abroad.
On Friday, in a Moscow polling station, Nadezhda, 23, told AFP that, in those around her, we are all used to the idea that everything is already decided for us, there is nothing we can do do it.
She said she came to vote because, otherwise, she would have had problems with her employer.
At each election in Russia, public administrations and companies are accused by specialized NGOs, the opposition and the media of orchestrating the vote of their employees, under penalty of sanctions.
According to the independent Russian media The Bell, classified as a foreign agent, the Russian airline Aeroflot forced its employees to vote.
President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has also said it is the target of large-scale computer attacks against its electronic services, which its experts reject.
Drone attacks were also reported in the Russian region of Samara, some 1,000 km from the Ukrainian border, targeting two refineries and causing a fire in one of them, according to the regional governor.
Russian oil sites, sometimes very far from the front, have become prime targets for attacks in recent weeks. Russia did not indicate whether the drones targeting them were launched from Ukraine or from Russian territory.
The services of Russian security forces (FSB) have for their part increased the arrests of people accused of preparing sabotage operations and attacks on Russian territory on behalf of Ukraine. Again on Saturday, they announced the arrest of a man in the Sverdlovsk region (Urals), accused of wanting to commit an attack against a railway junction.