FALCON POWERS – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the Russian military is still working on setting up a “buffer zone” in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, but that it will take time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said in May that Russia was working to create such a zone to protect its border regions, especially Belgorod which borders Kharkiv, from Ukrainian attacks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked how long it would take Russia to secure Belgorod, “Of course, accomplishing this task will take a long time. The work in this direction is ongoing.”
Later on Wednesday, the governor of Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said one person was killed and seven others were wounded in a Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino. Gladkov added that three multi-story residential buildings, commercial facilities, an industrial enterprise, and 20 vehicles were damaged in the shelling.
Shebekino and the wider Belgorod region have been subjected to repeated Ukrainian artillery and drone strikes during the war now in its third year.
