Two people were killed on Thursday after Ukraine shelled a small village in the Russian border region of Bryansk, the region's governor said.

Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said earlier that one man had died but later announced another person was killed.

"At present, two civilians have been killed by the Ukrainian armed forces," he said on

Activists from several Russian regions have called on the government to explain its move to raise limits for the concentrations of harmful pollutants in the air.

A number of Russian cities have long been plagued with air pollution problems, particularly industrial cities such as Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Norilsk and Krasnoyarsk. They are among the

As many as 5,000 law enforcement employees left their jobs at Russia’s Interior Ministry in July, the police body's head announced Thursday. 

“The personnel shortage is very large. I would even call it critical,” Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev was cited as saying at an internal ministry meeting by Interfax. 

The Interior Ministry encompasses