KHARKIV, Ukraine, March  20, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Moscow and Kyiv said 
civilians had been killed in the latest exchange of air strikes Wednesday, and 
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to restore security after a sharp 
increase in attacks on Russia's border regions.

       The Russian regions of Belgorod and Kursk just across the border from 
Ukraine have come under intense attack over the past 10 days. Kyiv has launched 
a barrage of drone and missile strikes and pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries have 
attempted armed raids into Russian territory.

       Fresh attacks on Belgorod killed three civilians Wednesday, the Russian 
governor said.

       In Ukraine, a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv 
killed at least five, the regional prosecutor's office said.

       Another seven were wounded, Oleg Synegubov, the governor of Kharkhiv, said 
earlier, and a senior police official warned the toll could rise.

       "The city was hit by an X-59 missile. Rescue and firefighting operations 
are underway. There are still people under the rubble," the Kharkiv regional 
prosecutor's office said.

       Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, lies close to the Russian border, 
and has seen increased attacks in recent months as Moscow's invasion moves into 
its third year.
       
       - 'Massive strikes' -
       
       Sergiy Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of Kharkiv's police, 
said of the deadly strikes on Kharkiv that an eight-storey building and a 
factory has been hit at around 1:00 pm local time (1100 GMT).

       "Unfortunately, the number of casualties may increase," he added.

       Ukraine's emergency services published images of at least five fire engines 
working at the scene, with a fire burning on the top floor of the building.

       Directly across the border in Russia's Belgorod region, the governor said 
multiple attacks on Wednesday had killed three people.

       "Since early morning, the Graivoron district has come under massive 
strikes, including with the use of multiple rocket launcher systems," Governor 
Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram.

       Two people were killed there, and another man was killed in the regional 
capital, also called Belgorod, when shrapnel from a shelling attack hit his 
car, Gladkov said.

       Some schools would shift to remote learning, a day after he ordered 9,000 
children to be evacuated from areas closest to the Ukrainian border, he added.

       The region has been hit with frequent shelling and drone strikes since 
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but attacks stepped up earlier this 
month ahead of Russia's presidential elections.
       
       - 'Victory' -
    
       
       In Moscow, Putin vowed he would restore order to Russia's border regions, 
as the fallout from his invasion continues to spill into Russian territory.

       He also said his win in a weekend presidential vote was a "prologue" to 
victory in Ukraine.  

       He spoke inside the Kremlin's gilded Andreyev Hall, addressing election 
officials after winning another six-year term in office in a vote with no 
genuine opposition.

       "We will do everything to support people who lost their businesses and 
homes, we will do everything possible," Putin said.

       "But the first thing, is of course to ensure security. There are different 
ways, they are not easy, but we will do them," he added, without elaborating. 
       "Victory in the elections is just a prologue to those victories that Russia 
so badly needs and that will definitely come," Putin said, two years into the 
Ukraine offensive.

       Russian forces have been advancing on the battlefield, securing their first 
territorial gains in almost a year, as Kyiv faces shortages of manpower and 
ammunition.

       Russia's army claimed this week to have made further advances around 
Avdiivka, the front line town in the eastern Donetsk region that Moscow 
captured last month.

       In the south of the country, Russian shelling killed two people outside the 
city of Kherson Wednesday, the local Ukrainian governor said.