Europe

Moscow accuses Ukraine of shelling border following Russian aerial assault that killed at least 39

Claim comes after Russia targeted Ukrainian cities with more than 150 missiles and drones on Friday

Overall, the attack hit six cities and reports of deaths and damage came in from across the country. Photograph: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images

Sat Dec 30 2023 - 08:13

Officials in Moscow have accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the Russian border city of Belgorod, a day after an 18-hour aerial Russian barrage across Ukraine killed at least 39 civilians.

Shelling in the centre of the Russian border city of Belgorod has killed 10 people and injured 45 more, emergency services said.

While previous attacks on the region have generally taken place at night, images on social media showed flames in broad daylight in what appeared to be the heart of the city, with cars on fire and plumes of black smoke rising among damaged buildings.

Air raid sirens sounded across the city, state media reported.

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Drones were seen in the skies over Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions, the country’s defence ministry said in a statement.

It comes after Russia targeted Ukrainian cities with more than 150 missiles and drones on Friday, in what Ukrainian officials said was one of the largest air assaults of the war. At least 39 people were killed and more than 160 were wounded, and critical infrastructure was damaged in what an air force official called the biggest aerial barrage of the war.

Russia's representative to the UN says misfiring Ukrainian anti-air missiles are to blame for residential buildings being hit during a recent missile barrage.

A maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools were among the buildings reported damaged across Ukraine.

The result was “the most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel. It topped the previous biggest assault, in November 2022 when Russia launched 96 missiles, and this year’s biggest, with 81 missiles on March 9, according to air force records.

Poland was renewing a search operation for elements of a suspected Russian rocket on Saturday, which it said had violated the country’s airspace on Friday morning, the Polish army said.

Polish military officials said on Friday that the object had left the country’s airspace within three minutes of entry from the direction of its border with Ukraine.

Some 480 soldiers of the Territorial Defense Force were to take part in the search near the city of Zamosc in southeastern Poland, the operational command said.

On Friday evening Poland’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian charge d’affaires, demanding an explanation for the violation of its airspace by a guided missile.

Thanks to its powerful air defense systems, Ukraine has often been able to shoot down most, if not all, Russian weapons targeting cities in recent months. But Friday the Ukrainian military said it had shot down only 114 missiles and drones out of a total of 158.

In Kyiv, the bombardment damaged a subway station that lies across the street from a factory belonging to the Artem company. Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/EPA

The UN Security Council hastily convened later Friday to discuss the attack, which Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari called “appalling”.

“Tragically, 2023 is ending as it began – with devastating violence against the people of Ukraine,” he said, and noted that international humanitarian law forbids attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the bombardment shows Russian president Vladimir Putin must be stopped, “but unless Congress takes urgent action in the new year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs to protect its people. Congress must step up and act.”

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres condemned Russia’s attack “in the strongest terms” and said attacks against civilians are unacceptable and must end immediately, according to a statement.

In Kyiv, the bombardment damaged a subway station that lies across the street from a factory belonging to the Artem company, which produces components for various military-grade missiles. Officials did not say whether the factory was directly hit.

Overall, the attack hit six cities and reports of deaths and damage came in from across the country. Several dozen missiles were launched towards Kyiv, with more than 30 intercepted, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration. Eight people were killed there, officials said.

In the eastern city of Dnipro, four maternity hospital patients were rescued from a fire, five people were killed and 20 injured, officials said.

In Odesa, on the southern coast, falling drone wreckage started a fire at a multistory residential building, according to the regional head, Oleh Kiper. Two people were killed and 15, including two children, were injured, he said.

The mayor of the western city of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi, said one person was killed there, with three schools and a kindergarten damaged in a drone attack. Local emergency services said 30 people were injured.

In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city was subjected to at least three waves of aerial attacks that included S-300 and Kh-21 missile launches. One person was killed and at least nine injured, officials said. - AP, Reuters

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