Kyiv and Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv have again come under Russian missile attack, leaving five people dead and causing significant material damage, Ukrainian officials said on Jan. 2.
According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the strikes damaged gas pipelines in the capital’s Pecherskyi district and disrupted electricity and water supplies in several parts of the capital.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov, meanwhile, said the strikes had killed at least one person in the region and left dozens more injured.
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that Russia would “answer for every life [it has] taken.”
The reported missile barrages come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a recent string of attacks on Russia’s western Belgorod region would “not go unpunished.”
Speaking at a Moscow military hospital on New Year’s Day, Mr. Putin described recent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod as “terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime.”
On Dec. 30, Ukrainian forces struck populated areas of Belgorod—which shares a border with the Kharkiv region—with missiles, rockets, and bomb-laden drones.
According to Russia’s defense ministry, the cross-border attacks had featured “indiscriminate strikes” on Belgorod city, the capital of the border region.
Ukrainian forces used rockets carrying cluster munitions, most of which were downed by Russian air defenses, the ministry said in a statement.
Nevertheless, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 25 civilians had been killed—and more than 110 injured—by Ukraine’s attacks.
The strikes, he said, had also caused substantial material destruction, leaving several residential buildings and scores of vehicles severely damaged.
Moscow responded by launching what it described as a “precision strike” on a hotel in Kharkiv, which it said had housed Ukrainian military personnel.
In a Dec. 31 statement, Russia’s defense ministry said the attack had killed “Ukrainian intelligence officers who were directly involved in planning and executing the terrorist attack on Belgorod.”
On Jan. 1, Mr. Putin confirmed that Russia had conducted retaliatory strikes “the very next day.”
“More are being conducted today,” he added. “And we will continue doing so tomorrow.”
He went on to assert that Russian forces would continue to strike what he described as “sensitive” military targets in Ukraine.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side of the conflict, which will enter its third year next month.
Tit-for-Tat Strikes
The Ukrainian attack on Belgorod came one day after Russia carried out a wide-ranging aerial attack on “critical infrastructure” across Ukraine.According to Ukrainian officials, Russia fired over 100 missiles on Dec. 29 at targets in Kyiv, Kharkiv, the western Lviv region, and the southern port city of Odesa.
Russian strikes were also reported in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro.
At least 39 people were killed by the strikes, which caused power outages in several parts of the country, according to officials in Kyiv.
Since late last year, Russia has carried out intermittent strikes—typically using missiles and drones—on Ukrainian transport and energy infrastructure.
Kyiv and its Western allies say the strikes target civilian populations and should therefore be viewed as “war crimes.”
Moscow, for its part, claims to be using high-precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties and insists the strikes serve an exclusively military purpose.
Belgorod Under Fire—Again
On Jan. 2, Russia’s defense ministry and local officials reported a fresh round of attacks on Belgorod.“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out fresh rocket attacks on targets in Russia [in Belgorod] was thwarted on Jan. 2,” the ministry said in a statement.
It went on to assert that Russian air defenses had shot down a total of 17 rockets fired at the region from Ukrainian territory.
Mr. Gladkov said that renewed cross-border shelling had killed at least one resident and left seven others injured.
“According to preliminary reports, one person was killed,” he said in a social-media post.
Several homes near the border were damaged by falling debris after Ukrainian rockets were successfully intercepted, he added.
“Emergency services are now in the process of assessing the damage,” Mr. Gladkov said.
Officials in Kyiv, for their part, have yet to comment on the reported resumption of cross-border attacks.
