One person was killed and three were injured today by Ukrainian strikes targeting the Russian region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced.

This statement was made while the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones overnight in the regions of Belgorod and Kursk, which also borders Ukraine.

Drone attacks targeting Russian territory have been on the rise in recent days in the run-up to Russia’s March 15-17 presidential election in which President Vladimir Putin is expected to win a new six-year term.

“According to initial information, a driver was killed by a hit to his vehicle” in the Belgorod region, Gladkov wrote on Telegram, explaining that ambulances rushed to the scene to help two women and a man who were injured.

Inside the city of Belgorod, two residences and a medical facility were damaged by the strikes, according to the same source.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that “attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks with drones against locations on Russian territory were thwarted last night.”

In total, “14 drones were intercepted and destroyed over Belgorod (11) and Kursk (3) regions,” he said.

yesterday, wednesday, dozens of Ukrainian drones had targeted Russian regions erelying mainly on energy infrastructures.

Since last year, the Ukrainian military has ramped up drone strikes against Russia, striking ever farther into Russian territory to respond to Moscow’s attacks on its own soil.