Belgorod governor: 25 residents killed by shelling, 96 more injured since Russia invaded Ukraine

In a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told him that 25 residents had been killed, and 96 more injured, as a result of Ukrainian shelling since the start of the war (which he called a “special military operation”).

“Our adversary, Ukraine, is shelling peaceful civilian towns,” said Gladkov.

The governor emphasized that the victims’ families receive the same amount of financial compensation as the families of killed and wounded Russian troops. “At the start of the special military operation,” said Gladkov,

we made a decision to pay 500,000 rubles [the equivalent of $7,200] to those who sustain mid-level or heavy injuries, and if someone dies, we pay three million rubles [$43,000]. We also made a decision to apply this to civilians. We pay them the same compensation that we pay the troops.

Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s Belgorod region (especially towns near the Ukrainian border) has often been shelled by the Ukrainian side.