Russian-appointed officials in part of Ukraine’s Moscow-controlled Kherson region on Friday accused Kyiv forces of shelling two polling stations during voting on the first day of the presidential elections which will lead to a new mandate for Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ukraine had tried to disrupt the election by attacking civilian targets in Russia, warning that the actions would not go “with impunity”.

The election commission of the Russian-controlled region reported in the Telegram messenger that Ukraine struck buildings used as polling stations in the cities of Kakhovka and Brylivka.

It is noted that an unknown number of people were injured and buildings were damaged.

Reuters could not independently confirm the claim.

At the same time, AFP wrote that on Friday, there was an explosion in front of the polling station in Skadovsk in the Kherson region, without any casualties.

“In Skadovsk, an improvised explosive device was planted in a garbage can in front of the polling station. There was a detonation, there were no casualties,” says the message to the regional election office of the Russian occupation in Telegram. According to her, Ukrainian troops also bombed two local election commissions without casualties.

In September 2022, Russia announced that it had annexed Kherson Oblast along with three other Ukrainian oblasts, although it did not fully control any of them.

Ukraine and its Western allies rejected the move as an illegal annexation.

Kyiv declared that the results of any voting in the four regions are invalid.

Read also:

VIDEO Russian presidential elections: in Moscow, a woman set fire to a voting booth / Molotov cocktail was thrown at the polling station / Incidents are multiplying

• Read LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro the most important events related to the war in Ukraine, day 751