MSF has supplied emergency medical kits to the main hospital in the Southern Russian city of Nalchik, where fighting between government forces and rebels broke out on Thursday morning.

Wounded were brought to the hospital for treatment while sporadic gunfire and explosions continued throughout the day. Nalchik is the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, one of the republics in the volatile Northern Caucasus.

MSF has been present in the region since 1999 to provide medical and psychosocial assistance to victims of war and violence in the republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia.

"The spilling over of violence into Kabardino-Balkaria could worsen the already very difficult humanitarian situation in the Caucasus," says MSF Head of Mission Andrew Cunningham.