Russia says strikes on Kharkiv were retaliation for Ukraine’s attack on Belgorod

KHARKIV – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Dec 31 it had attacked “decision-making centres” and military facilities in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight in retaliation for Ukraine’s bombardment of the Russian city of Belgorod.

Ukrainian officials said Russia had pounded Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year’s Eve, injuring at least 28 people and hitting residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities.

The strikes on Kharkiv came hours after Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly air assault just across the border on nearby Belgorod.

In the first waves of Russia’s attacks, at least six missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s National Police said on Dec 31.

Earlier, Ukrainian officials said that among those injured in Kharkiv were two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a team of German journalists.

Closer to midnight, as part of a wider bombardment of Ukraine that also targeted Kyiv, several waves of Russian drones hit residential buildings in Kharkiv’s centre, spouting fires, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said.

“On the eve of the New Year, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared – we are unbreakable and invincible!” said Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

He posted several photos showing windows blown out of residential buildings and firefighters putting out a fire at what seemed like a store.

The attacks on Kharkiv came within hours after what Moscow said was an “indiscriminate” Ukrainian air attack on the city of Belgorod.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region adjoining northern Ukraine, said the death toll from Dec 30’s Ukrainian rocket attack on the regional capital had risen to 24.

In a posting on Telegram he said there were also 108 wounded and that 37 apartment buildings had been damaged.

Russian newspaper Kommersant cited a source close to the Russian Investigative Committee as saying that Ukraine launched its attack on Belgorod from a multiple rocket launcher in the Kharkiv region.

Like other Russian border zones, Belgorod has suffered shelling and drone attacks all year, which authorities have blamed on Ukraine, though none have previously been on such a scale.

Both sides have increased attacks in the last week of 2023, with Russia killing at least 31 civilians in its biggest air assault of the war on Ukraine on Dec 29.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in a war that Russia launched against its neighbour in February 2022.

The United Nations says that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and nearly 60 people inside Russia. REUTERS