Victims are treated after attack in Belgorod, Russia Ministry of Emergency Situations/AFPDecember 30, 2023
Russia blamed Ukraine Attack this Saturday (30) that left 18 people dead in Belgorod, at the border, the deadliest for civilians on Russian territory since the conflict began in February 2022, and vowed to fight back. The Russian government called for a meeting of the UN Security Council.
The Defense Ministry assured that this attack would not go “unpunished,” and the Foreign Ministry accused Kiev of “deliberately attacking places where civilians are concentrated.”
The attack came a day after bombings that killed 39 people in Ukraine.
“In Belgorod, the death toll rises to 18 and 111 people were injured,” the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported in the latest report sent this Saturday on Telegram (30).
“We have experienced the worst consequences of the Ukrainian army's bombings in the last two years,” lamented the region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Images posted online show burning cars, buildings with broken windows and clouds of black smoke in the city.
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Ukraine regularly carries out attacks on Russia, particularly in the regions closest to its territory, but the number of victims is generally significantly lower.
Russian forces managed to intercept two missiles and intercepted “the majority” of those fired at the city, the ministry added, preventing an “incomparably more serious” death toll. However, several rockets and rocket debris fell on Belgorod.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was “informed” about this attack on “residential areas,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian authorities.
Ukraine has not yet responded to Russian allegations about Saturday's attack.
Putin and Ukraine's President Volodmir Zelensky will give their respective endofyear speeches this Sunday (31).
One person died and 10 others were injured in an attack in Donetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine that has been under the control of proRussian rebels since 2014 and annexed by Moscow last year, local authorities said.
rubble
Ukraine was still counting its death toll this Saturday after violent bombings the day before in several cities, including the capital.
The wave of attacks, one of the most violent since the start of the war almost two years ago, targeted buildings, a maternity hospital and even a shopping center, as well as industrial and military infrastructure.
Zelensky announced today that “unfortunately, 39 people have died across the country at the moment,” adding that more than a hundred people were injured.
“About 120 cities and towns were affected,” he said, adding that search operations were continuing.
According to the local administration, at least 16 people died in Kiev alone this Friday.
Bodies were still being recovered from the rubble on Saturday in the capital, where deadly bombings have eased in recent months.
This attack was “the largest in terms of civilian casualties,” said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, declaring January 1st a “day of mourning.”
According to Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat, it was the “largest missile attack” of the conflict, not counting the first days of the war.
Moscow carried out new attacks on Ukrainian territory this Saturday, claiming three lives in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions and 20 injured in the city of Kharkiv (northeast), including a Briton, security advisor to a group of German journalists, the prosecutor said. Ukrainian general.
Help is running out
Ukraine is ending a difficult year marked by the failure of its counteroffensive and the resurgence of Moscow forces, which this week claimed the capture of the eastern front town of Marinka.
This news is worrying for Kiev as Western aid from both Europe and the United States begins to dwindle, increasing the risk that the flow of ammunition and money will dry up.
On Saturday, Zelensky made a new appeal to his allies, saying arming Ukraine was “a way to protect lives.”
“Every manifestation of Russian terror shows that we cannot wait to provide assistance to those fighting,” he argued.
Russia on Friday carried out one of its largest missile attacks on Ukraine so far during the war, killing at least 16 civilians, wounding dozens more and hitting residential buildings in Kiev and the south and west of the country. , according to authorities “This morning, 150 missiles and drones attacked peaceful Ukrainian cities. We know that there were 16 dead and 97 injured,” Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin announced. Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk suggested the attack was Russia's largest airstrike since the February 2022 invasion, describing it on Telegram as “the heaviest airstrike.” Army chief Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said the attack hit key infrastructure, industrial and military facilities. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Ukraine has been warning for weeks that Russia could stockpile missiles to launch a major airstrike on its energy system. Last year, millions of people were left in the dark as Russian attacks hit the power grid. “Today millions of Ukrainians woke up to the loud sound of explosions. “I wish these sounds of explosions in Ukraine could be heard around the world,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, calling on Kiev’s allies to step up their support
The massive yearend airstrike comes at a time of uncertainty over the extent and endurance of the West's future military and financial support for Kiev after nearly two years of war with Russia.
According to the city's military administration, ten people in Kiev were trapped under rubble in a warehouse damaged by falling debris. A maternity hospital was hit in the city of Dnipro, but no injuries were reported, the governor said
Five people were killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region when rockets hit a shopping center, a private house and a sixstory residential building. The rockets hit several infrastructure facilities in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, and one person died, the interior minister reported. In the Lviv region, which borders Poland, a member of NATO (Western military alliance), rocket hits were confirmed on an unidentified critical infrastructure facility, reported the President's Office
In the Black Sea port city of Odessa, three people were killed and at least 15 injured, including two children, when rockets struck residential buildings, the region's governor said.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a rocket attack damaged a warehouse, an industrial plant, a medical facility and a transport depot, the regional governor said. One person was killed and 11 others were injured