Moscow vowed on Saturday to respond to an attack attributed to the Ukrainian army that left 21 dead and dozens injured in Belgorod. This was the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.
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This attack came a day after violent bombings in Ukraine that authorities said killed 40 people.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Saturday evening that 21 people, including three children, were killed and around 110 injured in the city.
Images posted online showed burning cars, buildings with broken windows and columns of black smoke rising on the horizon.
Ukraine regularly carries out attacks in Russia, particularly in the regions closest to its territory, but whose casualties are generally much lower.
Although Kiev has not yet responded to these allegations, the Russian Defense Ministry has already assured that the attack will not go “unpunished.”
Russian forces managed to intercept two rockets and “most” of those fired against the city, he added, thereby avoiding “infinitely more serious” consequences.
However, several rockets and rocket debris hit Belgorod, he said.
“We have experienced the worst consequences of the Ukrainian army's bombings in two years,” lamented the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
At an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York on Saturday, Moscow accused Ukraine of committing “a deliberate act of terrorism” and using missile weapons to attack Belgorod munitions.
It was “a blind and premeditated attack on a civilian target,” said Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia, accusing Kiev of targeting a sports center, an ice rink and a university.
“Security Council members have the opportunity to do their duty and objectively assess what happened,” he added.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky will both deliver expected New Year's addresses after 2023 was marked by a disappointing Kiev counteroffensive and a near-total standstill on the front line.
Violent strikes in Ukraine
Ukraine, for its part, was still counting its dead on Saturday after fierce attacks in several cities, including the capital Kiev.
The wave of attacks, one of the most violent since the start of the war almost two years ago, was directed against buildings, a maternity ward and even a shopping center, but also against industrial and military infrastructure.
Around forty people have died in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday, adding that around a hundred more were injured.
At least 17 people were killed in Kiev alone on Friday, the local administration said, in a city where deadly attacks have become rarer in recent months.
“This is a great tragedy for our city,” said the head of the capital’s military administration, Sergiï Popko.
According to various local authorities, new attacks occurred on Ukrainian territory on Saturday, killing three people in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions.
In Kharkiv, a northeastern city, 26 people were injured, according to the latest report from local authorities.
Among the injured were two teenagers and a Briton who was a security advisor to a team of German journalists, the prosecutor general said.
According to the same source, a hotel, a kindergarten, buildings and restaurants were affected.
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ilhor Terekhov, reported new drone attacks on the night from Saturday to Sunday. “There are strikes against several residential buildings in the city. There are fires,” he wrote on Telegram.
“Protect lives”
Friday's strikes drew international condemnation, with the UN Secretary-General speaking out against “appalling attacks”.
This brings to an end a difficult year for Ukraine, marked by the failure of its summer counteroffensive and a resurgence of Moscow forces.
This news from Kiev is all the more worrying as Western aid is slowly losing momentum in both Europe and the United States, increasing the risk of the flow of ammunition and money drying up.
On Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky made a new appeal to his allies, asserting that arming Ukraine was “a way to protect lives.”
“Every manifestation of Russian terror proves that we cannot wait to provide assistance to those fighting,” he argued.