KYIV, Jan 7 - The southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was subjected Sunday to numerous shelling attacks from Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, across the Dnipro River, local officials said.

The head of the Kherson city administration, Roman Mrochko, said two people died in the shelling attacks and several others were wounded, The Associated Press reported.

In Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, a man was killed and two other civilians wounded in Russian shelling of the Kupiansk district Sunday, according to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. A child was among the wounded.

Air defenses shot down 21 of 28 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday. Russia also launched three anti-aircraft missiles against Ukraine.

On an unannounced visit to the country this weekend, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa pledged Japan’s continued support for Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Sunday, she said Japan had decided to contribute $37 million to the NATO trust fund to provide drone detection systems, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

In Russia, more than 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area farther away from Ukraine, local officials said.

“On behalf of the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, we met the first Belgorod residents who decided to move to the safest place. More than 100 people were placed in our temporary accommodation centers,” Andrey Chesnokov, head of the Stary Oskol district, some 115 kilometers (71 miles) from Belgorod, wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod on Dec. 30 killed 25 people, officials there said, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week.

Russian soldiers celebrated Orthodox Christmas on the front line with military priests leading prayer services both on Sunday and on Christmas Eve night, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. (ap/ez)