Ukraine’s shelling in the Kherson region has killed and wounded its own civilians, the Russian defense ministry accused, according to state media reports. The town of Kherson was taken by Russian forces soon after the invasion was launched on February 24.

Without elaborating much on the alleged shelling, Russia said that Ukrainian forces have shelled a cemetery, school and kindergarten in the Kyselivka and Shyroka Balka, according to reports from Russian RIA news agency. The two villages are located in the Kherson region.

Kherson is one of the three key areas where Russian forces have been dominant. These areas, all located in the Southern regions of Ukraine, include previously annexed Crimea and almost-captured Mariupol. 

While Kyiv has not yet responded to the allegations made by the Russian defense ministry so far, a bulletin on Sunday read that Moscow’s forces have planning to go beyond the administrative borders of Kherson. The attacks are planned for the cities of Mykolayiv and Kryvyi Rih, according to reports from Reuters.

Russia’s influence in the Kherson region appears to go strong. The city plans to use the Russian ruble starting May 1, 2022. A senior administrator of the region said that there will be a transition period of four months, after which only the Russian ruble would be used.

While the city has so far been spared the atrocities committed elsewhere, daily life is far from normal. After Russia occupied Kherson and the surrounding region, all access was cut off. Kherson now suffers from a severe shortage of medicine, cash, dairy and other food products, and Ukrainian officials warn the region could face a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Russia has blocked all humanitarian assistance except its own, which troops deliver before Russian state TV cameras, and which many residents refuse to accept, according to reports from Associated Press.