KYIV, Ukraine (AFP)— Two French nationals were killed and three other foreigners wounded on Thursday in Beryslav, near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian officials said.

“Foreign volunteers were killed and injured as a result of an enemy strike on Beryslav,” Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Prokudin did not specify the exact duties of the volunteers, but he described them using a Ukrainian word that typically refers to workers from humanitarian organisations.

“The Russian army killed two French citizens. Three more foreigners received minor injuries,” he added, offering his “sincere condolences to the families of the dead”.

The Ukrainian national police reported that two men of French nationality had died as a result of a drone attack and that four others had been injured.

One of the injured was a 41-year-old man from Odesa, they said.

“All victims came to Kherson region as volunteers,” police said on Telegram, adding they were opening an investigation into the attack.

Contacted by AFP on Thursday evening, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond.

Beryslav, which sits on the Dnipro River close to the front line, has regularly been targeted by Russian drones and artillery.

On January 27, one person was killed there by an explosive launched by a Russian drone.