Saturday’s attack left at least 24 dead and around 100 injured, according to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.
Russian authorities on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of bombing the Russian border town of Belgorod, a day after an 18-hour Russian airstrike across Ukraine left at least 41 people dead, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At least 24 people were killed on Saturday during an attack by the Ukrainian army against the eponymous capital of the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, according to the latest report from the authorities.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that enemy artillery had fired on the city center, where some 330,000 people live.
It is for this reason that he recommended that the city’s population take refuge in the shelters and underground facilities provided for this purpose.
Among the buildings affected are the regional government headquarters and university buildings, as well as businesses and housing, according to the official Russian agency RIA Novosti.
Belgorod, which shares a 552-kilometer border with Ukraine, is the Russian region hardest hit by border incidents since the start of the military conflict in February 2022.
On the orders of President Vladimir Putin, a delegation from the Ministry of Health visited the region.
“This crime will not go unpunished. The Kyiv regime, by committing this crime, is trying to distract attention from the defeat at the front and incite us to commit similar acts”reported the Russian Defense Ministry.
Moscow requested a UN Security Council meeting after the attack.
Ukrainian intelligence sources informed the press that what happened in Belgorod was a consequence of the “unprofessional actions of Russian air defense” as well as “intentional provocations”.
“The Ukrainian Defense Forces are developing plans whose objectives are precisely military infrastructure”the source told online newspaper Ukraínska Pravda.
And they admit that Saturday’s attack on military targets on Russian territory was in retaliation for “barbaric bombings” on Friday against several Ukrainian cities.
The Ukrainian army thus responded to the wave of massive bombings against the Ukrainian capital and the country’s main cities, the largest of the entire war, since Moscow used some 160 missiles and drones.
Russian bombing damaged residential areas in Ukraine, a maternity ward, schools, nurseries, parks, a metro station, a shopping center and energy infrastructure, causing power outages in various parts of the country.
Drone attacks at night
On Saturday morning, Russia claimed to have foiled the Kyiv drone attack.
Thirty-two Ukrainian drones have been detected over Russia, Russian officials said.
Drones have been seen in the skies of Russia’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. It reported no casualties and said all drones had been destroyed by air defenses.