AFP
Russia attacked Ukraine in retaliation for the bombing of the Russian city of Belgorod
Russia claimed on Sunday that it attacked “military” targets in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, although local authorities insisted they were civilian buildings, in retaliation for the unprecedented attack that killed 24 people the day before in the Russian city of Belgorod. On Saturday, Russia assured that the missile and rocket attack against Belgorod, about thirty kilometers from the Ukrainian border, would not go “unpunished.” Moscow insists that Kiev is responsible, but Ukraine has remained silent until now. These bombings killed 24 people and wounded 108, according to a new report released by the region’s governor, Viatcheslav Gladkov. He later said that another Ukrainian bombing had killed an elderly man and wounded a woman in the village of Krasnyi, almost on the border with Ukraine. Although Kiev regularly carries out attacks on Russian territory, using drones, this is the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022. – “Twisted deception” – “In response to this act terrorist attack, the Russian armed forces attacked decision-making centers and military facilities” in Kharkiv, the Russian Defense Ministry declared on Sunday. Hours later, authorities reported “13 wounded and four dead” in an attack on the Russian-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Another person was killed in an attack in the southern port of Odessa, according to the local government. In turn, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegoubov, said that the rockets hit a hotel, residential buildings, clinics and hospitals on Saturday night, injuring 28 people. Among them were two teenagers and a British advisor to security of a team of German journalists, according to Ukrainian authorities. Russia acknowledged having attacked an “old hotel complex”, the Kharkiv Palace, but stated that members of military intelligence and the Ukrainian armed forces “involved” in the Belgorod attack, as well as “foreign mercenaries”, were there. called a “twisted hoax” by Ukrainian military intelligence, which said none of its employees had been injured. Moscow continues to deny attacking civilians in Ukraine. – 49 drones – The Ukrainian Air Force said six Russian guided missiles had been targeted at Kharkiv. It also said it shot down 21 of the 49 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched into its territory by Russia overnight and aimed south and east. . The last few days have been marked by an escalation of violence between Russia and Ukraine. On Friday, Ukraine declared mourning after what it called the most massive missile attack since the start of the conflict, not counting the first days of the war. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday afternoon that 39 people had died in all the country, but other deaths have since been announced. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergei Lyssak, declared on Sunday that one of the wounded died in hospital, bringing the death toll in his region to 7. In Kiev, the State Emergency Service said it had found 23 bodies in the rubble since Friday’s attack.- ‘Indiscriminate attack’ -On Sunday, during his New Year’s speech, Vladimir Putin assured that Russia will “never” back down. Last year, the Russian president gave a speech with a very martial tone, flanked by uniformed soldiers. This time he proclaimed that 2024 will be the year of the “family”, with the Kremlin in the background. Although he did not explicitly mention Ukraine, he made several allusions to it, paying tribute to the “hero” soldiers and explaining that Russia had ” “firmly defended” its interests and security in 2023. In his New Year’s speech, Zelensky promised to “destroy” the Russian army. “Next year, the enemy will suffer the ravages of our domestic production,” declared the Ukrainian president, who said that his country will have a million military drones. On Saturday, at an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the UN on the Belgorod attack, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassili Nebenzia, accused Kiev of “an indiscriminate and deliberate attack against a civilian target.” British representative Thomas Phipps replied that “if Russia wants to blame someone for the Russian deaths in this war, it should start with President Putin.” Zelensky gave his New Year’s speech after a 2023 marked by the failure of the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive and the almost complete freezing of the front line. Ukraine begins a difficult year as Western aid begins to decrease, which increases the risk of the flow of ammunition and funds drying up. On both the Russian and Ukrainian sides, the celebrations will take place on Sunday night amid great tension, following the attacks of recent days.bur-led/msr/zm/msr/eg/arm
2024-01-01 01:29:50
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