Overnight strikes in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine to Russia’s west, have caused concern within the Russian government.
The "massive" attack injured four people, including one severely, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Wednesday on Telegram. One man had shrapnel wounds to his neck and back, a woman had shrapnel wounds to her arm and forearm, and two other women refused hospitalization but were treated on the spot, Gladkov added.
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"We are concerned about this situation, the shelling of civilian facilities continues there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Russian state media Tass. "The situation there is quite alarming, measures are being taken."
Eight apartment buildings, four private households, two administrative buildings, and a school were damaged in the shelling.
Last week, anti-Putin factions within Belgorod took credit for conducting military operations there, while the Ukrainian government distanced itself from the group's activities.
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of launching eight drones toward Moscow, noting that officers were able to jam three of them while shooting down the other five with antiaircraft missiles and artillery.
"Kyiv chose the path of intimidation of Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in response to the attack, which Ukrainian officials denied responsibility for. "We are concerned about attempts to evoke a response from Russia. It seems that is what [Ukraine wants] ... Kyiv provokes us to mirror actions. We will see what to do about this."
At least two residential buildings in Moscow were damaged in the attack.
“Of course, we enjoy watching and predicting an increase in attacks. But of course, we have nothing to do directly with it,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told the Breakfast Show YouTube channel.
The United States has been adamant in its stance that aid should not be used in attacks within Russia's borders due to a fear of escalating the war, while the United Kingdom has, conversely, been much more open to that possibility.
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The Biden administration has “been clear, privately and publicly, with the Ukrainians that we don't support attacks on Russian soil,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on CNN Wednesday morning. "We are going to continue to give them what they need to defend themselves and defend their territory, Ukrainian soil, but we don't support attacks on, in Russia."
"What we have said is we don't want to encourage or enable attacks inside Russia because we don't want to see the war escalate beyond the violence has already visited upon the Ukrainian people," Kirby added, while British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly affirmed Ukraine’s right to attack “legitimate military targets” in Russia on Tuesday.