RRussia accused Ukraine of launching a „terrorist attack” on civilians in the Russian city of Belgorod. “In order to increase the number of victims of the terrorist attack, they used cluster munitions,” Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Saturday at a UN Security Council meeting at Russia’s request. Ukraine has set its sights on a sports centre, ice rink and university. At least 39 people were killed on Friday in Ukraine in one of the worst waves of Russian attacks since the beginning of the war.
Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking the city of Belgorod on Saturday. According to the authorities, at least 22 people were killed and dozens injured. Belgorod is located about 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Nebensia added that it was a “deliberate and indiscriminate attack against a civilian target.” Security Council members now have “an opportunity to do their duty and assess the damage to the Russian city of Belgorod,” Nebensia continued, holding up the QR code. The code was linked to a video that Nebensia said showed the effects of the attack.
According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, 15 children were among the 109 wounded. Video footage, whose authenticity could not be initially verified, showed streets filled with rubble and clouds of smoke rising from burning cars in central Belgorod. The sound of a huge explosion can be heard in car camera footage posted on the Internet.
Agence France-Presse was unable to immediately verify the circumstances of the attack, which was one of the bloodiest attacks on Russian territory since the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Russian information, Welsha guided missiles and Czech-made missiles were used in the attack. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “most” of the missiles directed at the city were intercepted. However, several missiles and debris fell on Belgorod. A child was also killed as a result of Ukrainian bombing in the Bryansk border region, local governor Alexander Bogomas announced in electronic services. Initially, no statement was issued by the Ukrainian side regarding these accusations.
Russia had requested a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the deadly attack on Belgorod. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS news agency that Russian President Vladimir Putin “was informed of the attack launched by the Ukrainian armed forces on residential areas in Belgorod.” The Russian Foreign Ministry, which has repeatedly criticized Western arms supplies to Ukraine, accused the United States and Britain of “inciting the regime in Kiev to commit terrorist acts.”
Both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were scheduled to deliver New Year's speeches on Sunday – the end of a year in which the Ukrainian counteroffensive failed and the front line barely changed.
Zelensky: „Terrorist attack” on my country
On Saturday, Zelensky wrote in electronic services about a “terrorist attack” on his country in light of the wave of attacks that occurred on Friday, in which 39 people were killed and more than a hundred injured so far. Zelensky explained that „nearly 120 towns and villages were affected” across the country. He added, „Work to remove the effects of yesterday's Russian attack is still continuing.”
According to the city administration, 16 people were killed in the attacks in the capital, Kiev alone. Bodies were still being recovered from the rubble on Saturday. City Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared January 1 a day of mourning.
According to Ukrainian information, schools, maternity clinics, shopping centers and residential buildings were bombed on Friday in one of the most violent waves of Russian attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The Russian army said in its daily situation report that it carried out “50 mass and major attacks” between December 23 and 29. All targets were hit.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia used 158 drones and missiles. 144 of them were destroyed. Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat said this was a “record number” of missiles. Aside from the first days of the war in February 2022, these were the “most massive attacks” on Ukraine to date.
According to authorities, three people were killed in the Kherson, Zaporizhia and Chernihiv regions on Saturday in Russian attacks on Ukraine. The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said that 16 people were injured in an attack in Kharkiv in the northeast of the country. According to Prosecutor Oleksandr Velchakov, among the wounded was a foreign journalist. According to the Home Office, he is a British man.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden appealed to Congress to quickly approve more aid to Ukraine in the new year. “Unless Congress acts urgently in the new year, we will not be able to continue delivering the weapons and critical air defense systems that Ukraine needs to protect its people,” Biden said. Congress must „act, without further delay.”