Ukraine drone kills one in southern Russia: governor

Gladkov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the drone hit the village of Novaya Naumovka, just inside the Russian border, where the two residents were tending a garden.

Russia's Defence Ministry later reported that air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 14 multiple-launch rockets originating in Ukraine.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Ukraine has launched frequent drone and shelling attacks on Belgorod and other Russian regions on its border.

Earlier on Friday, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that Russian guided bombs had killed at least three people and injured 28 in the northeastern Ukraine city.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, and the surrounding region have long been targeted by Russian attacks.

The strikes have become more intense in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of seeking to reduce the city to rubble.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and injured in its 27-months-long invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking during a state visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was creating a "buffer zone" in Ukraine's northeast to protect its own border regions but said capturing Kharkiv was not part of the current plan.

Putin told a news conference in China that the assault on Kharkiv region was a response to Ukraine's shelling of Russian border regions such as Belgorod where he said civilians were dying.

"They are shooting directly at the city centre, at residential areas. And I said publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a buffer zone. That is what we are doing," he said.

Russian forces were able to advance 10km in one place in the Kharkiv region although Ukrainian forces have "stabilised" the front, Zelenskiy told Ukrainian media outlets in comments published on Friday.

Australian Associated Press