A Russian border region intends to evacuate about 9,000 children from the area due to continuous shelling from the Ukrainian side, according to an official announcement on Tuesday. Ukrainian forces are increasingly targeting locations behind the front line, a situation that has not changed much after more than two years of war.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, said the children would be moved eastward away from the Ukrainian border.

This announcement came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Kremlin wants to establish a buffer zone to help protect border areas from long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids.

Ukraine is increasingly using its long-range firepower to strike oil refineries and warehouses deep inside Russia and is seeking to destabilize Russian border regions, putting political pressure on Putin.

Additionally, Russian opponents of Putin and the Kremlin based in Ukraine have launched cross-border raids.

Putin discussed those incursions in a Tuesday meeting with senior officials from the Federal Security Service, the FSB.

Gladkov said three people were injured in Tuesday's attack from Ukraine on the Belgorod region, including a 14-year-old boy who had part of one of his limbs amputated. He added that the boy’s mother was also seriously injured in the attack.

The day before, four members of the same family were killed in an attack on the village of Nikolskoye in Belgorod, according to Gladkov. He added that a grandmother, mother, her partner, and a 17-year-old son were killed after a missile struck their home.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims from either side on the battlefield.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Belgorod and another over the neighboring Voronezh region during the night. It did not provide details on any damage or injuries.

Meanwhile, Russia used S-300 missiles to attack the city of Selydove in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine during the night. The regional prosecutor’s office said four people were injured and homes and cars were damaged.

Russian attacks in the Donetsk region on Monday resulted in one death and another injury, according to Vadim Vilashkin, the governor of the region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukraine’s Western partners on Tuesday to rapidly supply more air defense systems and detailed the scale of the challenge facing Ukrainian forces. He said Russia has used 130 missiles of various types so far this month, more than 320 Shahed-type drones, and nearly 900 guided aerial bombs targeting different areas of Ukraine.

Ukraine has strengthened its defense industry and plans to reach unprecedented levels since the country’s independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Zelensky, but it still heavily relies on Western support, which has diminished in recent months.