KYIV: Russia launched a fresh drone assault on Ukraine after promising that strikes on the Russian border city of Belgorod that killed 24 people Saturday “would not go unpunished.” The Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday that it had shot down 21 of 49 drones launched by Russian forces overnight.
The retaliatory Russian attack wounded 28 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.A hotel, kindergarten, apartment buildings, shops and administrative buildings sustained damage, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted “decision-making centers and military facilities” in Kharkiv. It said the hit on the Kharkiv Palace Hotel had “destroyed representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate and Ukrainian Armed Forces” involved in the “terrorist attack” in Belgorod.
Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said a British journalist was among the wounded, while public German broadcaster ZDF said Sunday that one of its TV crews had been in the hotel. In the Kyiv region that surrounds Ukraine’s capital, a Russian drone attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility, local officials said. They did not identify the nature of the facility. Russian troops additionally shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Sunday, killing a 14-year-old boy.
On Saturday, shelling in the centre of Belgorod killed two dozen people, including three children. Another 108 people were wounded in the strike, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Sunday, making the attack one with the most casualties on Russian soil since the start of the war 22 months ago. Russian authorities accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack, which took place the day after an 18-hour Russian aerial bombardment across Ukraine killed 41 civilians.
The retaliatory Russian attack wounded 28 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.A hotel, kindergarten, apartment buildings, shops and administrative buildings sustained damage, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted “decision-making centers and military facilities” in Kharkiv. It said the hit on the Kharkiv Palace Hotel had “destroyed representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate and Ukrainian Armed Forces” involved in the “terrorist attack” in Belgorod.
Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said a British journalist was among the wounded, while public German broadcaster ZDF said Sunday that one of its TV crews had been in the hotel. In the Kyiv region that surrounds Ukraine’s capital, a Russian drone attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility, local officials said. They did not identify the nature of the facility. Russian troops additionally shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Sunday, killing a 14-year-old boy.
On Saturday, shelling in the centre of Belgorod killed two dozen people, including three children. Another 108 people were wounded in the strike, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Sunday, making the attack one with the most casualties on Russian soil since the start of the war 22 months ago. Russian authorities accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack, which took place the day after an 18-hour Russian aerial bombardment across Ukraine killed 41 civilians.
