The aftermath of the strike on Rylsk. Photo: Tipichny Rylsk / Telegram

Six people, including a child, were killed on Friday as the town of Rylsk in Russia’s western Kursk region was struck by Ukrainian shelling, Alexander Khinshtein, the newly appointed governor of the region, said on his Telegram channel.

Ten wounded, including a 13-year-old, were taken to hospital, Khinshtein said, adding that air defence systems had taken down “several missiles fired from a HIMARS multiple rocket launcher”.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash wrote that seven people had been killed in the attack, but those reports have not been confirmed by official sources.

Neither the Russian Defence Ministry nor the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have commented on the reported strike so far.

Eye-witnesses told state-affiliated business news outlet RBC that loud explosions had been heard in the town, with locals recording video footage of fires that had broken out in several locations, including at one teacher training college.

RBC also said the Russian Investigative Committee had opened a criminal case relating to the incident, calling it “a terrorist act”, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told state news agency TASS that Moscow would raise the Rylsk strikes at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

Rylsk is beyond the territory in the Russian Kursk region which has been under AFU control ever since Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into the area in August.

At least three people were killed on Friday morning in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kherson, local authorities reported, which Russia said had been in response to a Ukrainian attack on a major chemical plant in Russia’s Rostov region on Wednesday.