Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it had attacked military targets in Kharkiv in retaliation for Saturday’s attack on Belgorod, but Ukraine claims they were residential buildings.
On Saturday, Russia vowed that the attack on Belgorod, which killed 24 people in that city close to the Ukrainian border, would not go unpunished.
Moscow accused Kiev of the attack, but Ukraine has not yet responded to the accusation.
According to the latest report, released on Sunday morning by the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the attack left 24 dead and 108 injured.
Although Kiev carries out frequent attacks on Russian territory, mainly using drones, this was the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.
“In response to this terrorist act, the Russian armed forces attacked decision-making centers and military installations” in Kharkov, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
However, the governor of the Ukrainian region, Oleg Sinegoubov, stated that the attack hit a hotel, residential buildings and clinics or hospitals, leaving 28 injured.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the victims include two teenagers and a British citizen, a security advisor to a team of German journalists.
Russia acknowledged that it had hit an “old hotel complex”, the Kharkiv Palace, but assured that there were members of the military intelligence services allegedly involved in the attack on Belgorod, as well as “foreign mercenaries”.
Moscow has always denied attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.
The military offensive that Russia launched in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945), according to the most recent UN data.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: DN
