World
2023.12.31 07:38 GMT+8

Russia says 21 killed in Ukrainian strikes in Belgorod

Updated 2023.12.31 10:42 GMT+8
CGTN

Citizens survey damage from an air strike, Belgorod, Russia, December 31, 2023. /CFP

Twenty-one people have been killed and 110 injured in Ukrainian strikes in Belgorod, the Governor of the Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday.

The Belgorod region, which adjoins northern Ukraine, has like other Russian border zones suffered shelling and drone attacks all year that authorities have blamed on Ukraine, although none have previously been on such a scale.

The attack followed Russian strikes on Ukraine on Friday, which killed 39 people. 

Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council after air strikes on Belgorod, RIA reported, citing Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

No official comment was immediately available from Kyiv.

Newspaper Kommersant cited a source close to the Russian Investigative Committee as saying missiles fired from a multiple rocket launcher in Ukraine's Kharkiv region had hit a skating rink on the central Cathedral Square, a shopping center and residential buildings.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement the attack would "not go unpunished."

Within hours of the attack on Belgorod, Ukrainian authorities said two Russian S-300 missiles hit the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, injuring 21 people including two boys aged 16 and 14.

(With input from agencies)

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