Russia has launched new attacks against Ukraine during the early hours of Sunday, a day after the attack attributed to kyiv that left 22 dead in the Russian town of Belgorod and for which Moscow promised a response.
Four Iranian-made “Shahed” drones attacked the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine overnight, according to the regional prosecutor’s spokesman, Dmytro Tchoubenko. “As a result of the night attack by Russian drones in Kharkiv, buildings in the city center were damaged. These are not military facilities, but cafes, residential buildings and offices,” the city’s mayor Ihor wrote on Telegram. Terekhov, without denouncing the victims. “On New Year’s Eve, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not afraid,” he added.
This attack occurs a day after the attack attributed to the Ukrainian army which, according to the local governor, left 22 dead and 109 injured on Saturday in Belgorod, a Russian town located about 80 kilometers north of Kharkiv and 30 kilometers from the border. Ukraine.
This is the deadliest attack against civilians in Russia since the start of the conflict in February 2022, and the Russian Ministry of Defense has assured that it will not go “unpunished.” Ukraine regularly carries out attacks in Russia, particularly in the regions closest to its territory, but its number of victims is generally much lower.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, Moscow accused Kiev of committing “a deliberate act of terrorism” and “using cluster munitions.” This is “a blind and deliberate attack against a civilian target,” said the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassili Nebenzia, accusing Kiev of having attacked a sports center, an ice rink and a university.
Ukraine’s allies have responded that responsibility for the war lies with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There are hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. There is not a single Ukrainian soldier in Russia,” said British representative Thomas Phipps. “If Russia wants to blame someone for Russian deaths in this war, it should start with President Putin,” he added.
The attack in Belgorod came a day after particularly heavy bombings in Ukraine, which killed 40 people, including 17 in the capital kyiv, according to authorities. During the day on Saturday, new Russian attacks targeted Ukrainian territory, killing three people in the Kherson, Zaporizhia and Chernihiv regions, according to several local authorities. In Kharkiv, 26 people were injured on Saturday.
On Sunday, Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, will deliver the long-awaited New Year’s speeches, after a year 2023 marked by the failure of Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive and the almost total freezing of the front line.
This news is all the more worrying from kyiv as Western aid begins to lose steam, both in Europe and the United States, increasing the risk that the flow of ammunition and funds will dry up.
On Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky launched a new appeal to his allies, ensuring that arming Ukraine is “a way to protect lives.” “Every manifestation of Russian terror shows that we cannot wait to provide assistance to those who are fighting,” he argued.