MOSCOW 

Three children were killed in Ukraine's shelling of the city of Donetsk, local authorities said on Friday.

Head of the city Alexey Kulemzin said a shell hit a private house on Olkhovskaya Street in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, killing two girls (aged 10 and 3) and a 10-year-old boy.

Kulemzin described the shelling as "barbaric," slamming the Ukrainian troops for targeting residential areas.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said seven shells of a Czech-made multiple rocket launcher Vampire were intercepted over the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, where the Ukrainian sabotage groups attempted cross-border attacks for three consecutive days.

Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.