Ukrainian forces shelled a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, injuring four people, damaging buildings and setting vehicles on fire, the governor of the region said on Wednesday.

Two people were hospitalized as a result of the artillery strike on Shebekino, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.

The shelling smashed windows and damaged roofs of an eight-story apartment building, four homes and a school, among others, he said.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.

Gladkov said on Monday that two industrial facilities in the town had been hit. On Saturday, he said he had come under artillery fire when trying to enter the town, which is only about 7 km (4.5 miles) north of the border with Ukraine.

Belgorod, which borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has increasingly come under attack from Ukrainian forces in recent months.

There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the latest shelling but it almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks in Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the 15-month long war that Russia launched in February 2022.