Kiev/Moscow, 13 August 2023 (dpa/MIA) - At least six people, including a 22-day-old baby, were killed in Russian artillery fire targeting villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Sunday morning, according to authorities.

The child's parents were also killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. The baby's 12-year-old brother was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, Klymenko said. He later died in hospital.

In the neighbouring village of Stanislav, two adults were killed, according to the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak. "The enemy continues to shell the Kherson area," he said.

The villages are located on the western bank of the Dnipro River at its mouth into the Black Sea. Russian troops withdrew from the area last autumn. However, it is still within the range of their artillery.

At least 500 children have been killed so far in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched by Moscow more than 17 months ago, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday.

Another 1,100 children suffered injuries of varying degrees, the prosecutor's office in Kiev said, adding that the actual number is likely to be higher as the authorities continue to investigate casualties in the war zone and in areas liberated by Ukraine, as well as in regions occupied by Russian troops.

The number of children killed and injured was highest in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv near the frontline, followed by the capital region of Kiev and Kherson in southern Ukraine.

Across the border in Russia, meanwhile, the military on Sunday said it has shot down a total of four drones over the south-western regions of Kursk and Belgorod bordering Ukraine.

There was no damage or casualties, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said without providing further details. The information could not be independently verified. Three of the drones were intercepted over the Belgorod region, one of them overnight, according to the ministry.

In recent weeks, Russia has repeatedly reported what it says are Ukrainian combat drones causing damage as far as in the capital Moscow.

Photo: MIA archive