KYIV, Ukraine (AFP)— Russian forces on Tuesday killed an elderly priest in a churchyard when they shelled the town of Bilozerka in southern Ukraine, authorities said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on social media that the priest was 72, adding that a 76-year-old woman was wounded.

Four residential buildings, a post office, a central square and some administrative buildings were damaged, he said in a statement.

In a separate statement, the Office of the General Prosecutor said it was probing a “war crime”.

Bilozerka is located about 10 kilometres (six miles) west of the southern city of Kherson, a regional centre retaken by the Ukrainian army last year and partially flooded after the destruction of a dam on the Dnipro river last week.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of destroying the Kakhovka dam.

The Russian army has regularly shelled Kherson and its surroundings from the eastern bank of the Dnipro after the city was recaptured.

Kyiv says its forces have retaken seven villages and made advances in the country’s east and south in its counter-offensive against Russia.