Russia counts more than 20 civilians dead in Belgorod
Published: Sunday, Dec 31st 2023, 20:10
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Russia has suffered a high number of civilian casualties for the first time in its almost two-year war of aggression against Ukraine at the turn of the year. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Sunday that 24 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the city of Belgorod near the border following Ukrainian attacks. The Russian military claimed that Ukraine had also used internationally banned cluster munitions.
Expressly in retaliation for Belgorod, the Russian army fired on the nearby eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday evening, where authorities say 28 people were injured. One rocket hit a large international hotel. A team from the Second German Television (ZDF) was also affected. According to the broadcaster, a Ukrainian translator was seriously injured by debris. A security guard was also injured.
Russia also launched drones and missiles against Ukraine on New Year's Eve. According to media reports, explosions were heard at midday near the towns of Kropyvnitskyi and Krivyi Rih in the center of the country.
Belgorod counts its dead
"Without a doubt, our region has never experienced such a level of aggression," wrote Governor Gladkov on the social network Telegram. "These were the worst consequences of shelling in almost two years." According to official Russian figures, 44 buildings in Belgorod were hit by the attacks on Friday and Saturday. There were also further rocket alerts on Sunday. Citizens complained that shelters were not open everywhere. The governor asked for such cases to be reported to him.
The city, which is around 30 kilometers from Ukraine, has come under fire several times since the start of the war in February 2022, targeting military depots or fuel tanks. However, there have never been so many civilian casualties in a Russian city. Nevertheless, the damage and casualty figures are disproportionate to the damage caused by Russia in Ukraine. After the heavy bombardment with rockets, cruise missiles and drones on Friday alone, the number of Ukrainian civilians killed rose to 45 by Sunday.
Putin emphasizes Russia's resilience
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the war, did not comment on the situation in Belgorod. He sent civil protection helpers and a high-ranking official to the city. The events were also not mentioned in his pre-recorded speech at the turn of the year. Instead, he invoked the resilience and unity of the Russians in a difficult situation. "We have shown more than once that we can solve the most difficult tasks and never back down, because there is no force that could divide us," said the Kremlin leader. Because of the deaths in Belgorod, many other Russian cities canceled their New Year's Eve celebrations at short notice.
Did Ukraine use cluster munitions?
According to Russian military sources, Ukraine is said to have fired at the city with combat drones and rocket artillery. In Moscow, the Ministry of Defense announced that two precision-guided Ukrainian missiles had been tipped with cluster munitions. Although these missiles had been shot down by the air defense, their debris with the cluster munitions had fallen into the city center, the military said. The information could not immediately be independently verified. Cluster munitions are smaller explosive devices that are released by a larger projectile and are primarily intended to hit vehicles and people.
In the UN Security Council, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia presented it as if the center of Belgorod had been deliberately shelled. "Cluster munitions were used to increase the number of victims," said Nebensja in New York. Cluster munitions are outlawed in many countries. However, Russia and Ukraine have already used this type of munition against each other.
There was no official statement from Kiev until Sunday. The news portal "Ukrajinska Pravda" wrote, citing an intelligence source, that the Ukrainian army had targeted Russian military objects. Civilians had come to harm due to "unprofessional actions by the Russian air defense as well as deliberate and planned provocations".
ZDF team hit by missile strike on hotel in Kharkiv
Following the attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, ZDF reported that its seven-person television crew had been in the hotel on Saturday when a rocket hit. "This is another attack by Russia on the free press. We hope that the injured colleagues will recover quickly," said ZDF editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten. The hotel is often used by foreign journalists because it has a bunker. A British journalist is also said to have been injured. The Russian army has repeatedly shelled hotels where journalists or volunteers are staying, including in Zaporizhia and Dnipro.
The Ministry of Defense in Moscow confirmed the attack. The hotel had been fired on because representatives of the Ukrainian secret services had been planning the shelling of Belgorod there, a military spokesperson claimed on Sunday. Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine on New Year's Eve with missiles and several waves of drones. The Ukrainian air force announced that 21 of 49 drones attacking Ukraine during the night had been shot down.
DJV condemns Kharkiv attack
The German Journalists' Association has condemned the Russian bombing of a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as an attack on journalism. DJV Chairman Mika Beuster called the Russian Ministry of Defense's justification for the attack on the hotel "inhumane and cynical". Journalists are not an intelligence service or a party to the war, but independent observers of events. War correspondents are protected by the Geneva Convention. "This also applies to the war in Ukraine."
©Keystone/SDA
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