The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said several areas would be closed to most civilians.
Russia has denied that its ground offensive in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine is failing after an official said it would seal off border villages to protect them from Ukrainian shelling.
Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Tuesday that civilian access to 14 villages bordering Russia would be restricted given the current intensity of the attacks.
Asked whether this meant the Kharkiv operation had failed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday: “No, it does not.”
“This operation is ongoing and will continue until it is successfully completed,” he told reporters.
“But while this is not complete, the kyiv regime’s barbaric attacks on civilian infrastructure continue. In order to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population, new practices are being introduced,” he said.
In May, Russia launched a surprise attack on Kharkiv, a neighbour of Russia’s Belgorod region, in an attempt to push back Ukrainian forces and establish what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “buffer zone.”
But the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said Ukrainian forces were largely slowing the Russian advance around the city of Kharkiv.
City officials announced Wednesday that they will build a series of underground schools to protect children from Russian bombing.
Announcing the security measures, Belgorod's governor said more than 200 people had been killed and hundreds more injured in the region due to Ukrainian shelling.
He said entry to the border zone will be limited starting next Tuesday and only adult men wearing bulletproof vests and helmets will be allowed through checkpoints.
“I hope you will agree with me that it is unacceptable to allow women and children into settlements that are being bombed every day,” Gladkov said.
Last week, Ukrainian attacks in the Belgorod region also killed four people in a 24-hour period and injured 20 others.
Ukraine has argued that its responses to Russian attacks and the increased attacks on Russian territory during the conflict are justified. Ukraine was also forced to send troops to reinforce the area after Russia launched its new offensive.
Prisoner exchanges
However, on Wednesday, the two countries exchanged 95 prisoners of war each, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The exchange was the 54th since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
We continue to bring our people home. Another 95 defenders have been released from Russian captivity. These are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and border guards.
I would like to thank our team responsible for exchanges and the Arab States… image.twitter.com/ozVW5wQ1Ie
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 17, 2024
Neither side has disclosed how many prisoners of war there are in total, but they have carried out periodic prisoner exchanges through intermediaries since the war began nearly two years ago, despite the absence of peace talks.
