The Russian Defense Ministry announced this Sunday that it had attacked military targets in Kharkiv, in retaliation for Saturday’s attack on Belgorod, but Ukraine claims that they were residential buildings.
On Saturday, Russia promised that the Belgorod attack, which killed 24 people in that city near the Ukrainian border, would not go unpunished.
Moscow accuses kyiv of the attack, but Ukraine has not yet responded to the accusation.
According to the latest report, published this Sunday morning by the region’s governor, Viacheslav Gladkov, the attack left 24 dead and 108 injured.
Although kyiv carries out frequent attacks on Russian territory, particularly using drones, this was the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
“In response to this terrorist act, the Russian armed forces attacked decision-making centers and military facilities” in Kharkiv, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The governor of the Ukrainian region, Oleg Sinegoubov, stated, however, that the attack hit a hotel, residential buildings and clinics or hospitals, leaving 28 injured.
Among the victims are two teenagers and a British citizen, a security adviser to a team of German journalists, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Russia acknowledged having attacked an “old hotel complex”, the Kharkiv Palace, but claimed 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 launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine caused, according to the most recent UN data, the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. political and economic.
Source: TSF
