UNITED NATIONS – Russia accused Ukraine of targeting civilian areas in one of its cities and using cluster munitions, during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Dec 30 requested by Moscow.

Russia claimed Ukraine attacked the city of Belgorod with missiles and rockets on Dec 30, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens more.

“(It was a) deliberate, indiscriminate attack against a civilian target,” said Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya, claiming that Kyiv targeted a sports centre, an ice rink and a university.

“UN Security Council members have an opportunity to do their duty and assess the damage done to a Russian city, Belgorod,” he said, holding up a QR code linking to what he said was video of the attack’s aftermath.

Ukrainian allies quickly retorted, saying Russia had unleashed the war.

The French envoy said Ukraine was simply defending itself under UN laws, while Moscow was “trampling” over the UN Charter.

Ukraine, which has been resisting a Russian invasion for nearly two years and on Dec 29 came under a huge Russian missile and drone assault, has not officially commented on the strike against Belgorod.

Belgorod lies about 30km from the border with Ukraine and has been repeatedly struck by what Moscow says is indiscriminate shelling by Kyiv’s forces.

“As the war continues, we will see more Ukrainian and Russian civilians killed,” said UN assistant secretary-general Mohamed Khiari, warning there were “very real dangers of escalation and spillover of this war”.

Unverified footage showed a street strewn with debris and smoke billowing from burnt-out cars in the city’s centre, while a large blast could be heard on dashcam footage posted on social media.

AFP was not able to immediately verify the circumstances of the strike, one of the deadliest on Russian soil since Moscow launched hostilities against Ukraine in February 2022.

Two Vilkha missiles and Czech-made rockets were used in the attack, Russia said. AFP