Russia places death toll from Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod at 24 and launches retaliatory attacks

Russia has raised the death toll from Saturday’s attacks on Belgorod, Bryansk, and other cities in the southwest of the country to 24, including three children, with more than 100 people wounded. The Kremlin claimed that the strikes hit civilian buildings and has vowed to punish Ukraine. On Saturday night and early Sunday morning, Russian forces launched a barrage of missiles and drones against Kharkiv, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Russian border, mainly targeting apartment blocks, a cafeteria, a kindergarten, and a hotel where international aid workers and journalists often stay. Some 30 people have been wounded in the retaliatory strikes. Russian attacks have also hit other regions, including Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Kherson in the south.

Saturday’s attack — which mainly targeted the city of Belgorod and for which Kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility although several sources confirmed it to RBC Ukraine and the BBC — is the largest of its kind since the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The strikes came on the heels of one of Russia’s biggest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, in which at least 39 people were killed on Friday. Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has become a battle of attrition on the front lines, has escalated in recent days, coinciding with the New Year’s Eve holidays, traditionally the biggest festive celebration in both countries.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that the attacks against Kharkiv, which before the war was the second most-populated city in Ukraine and mostly Russian-speaking, targeted “decision-making centers.” The ministry also stated that it targeted locations where military personnel and mercenaries were stationed.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Saturday’s shelling hit 37 apartment buildings, three private homes, and seven stores or cafeterias.

Ukrainian authorities reported that in the early hours of Sunday morning Kyiv was targeted by drone attacks, but that most had been shot down. “On New Year’s Eve, the Russians want to intimidate our city,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on social media.

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