At least four people were killed and dozens of others injured in Ukraine in new Russian night strikes, kyiv announced on Monday, at a time when Russia says it wants to intensify its attacks against its neighbor.
For its part, Moscow declared that several hundred residents of Belgorod had been evacuated, a first in nearly two years of conflict for this large city close to Ukraine and recently the target of a series of Ukrainian bombings.
Particularly deadly strikes have increased in recent weeks on both sides of the border.
On Monday, the Ukrainian National Police reported a “massive Russian attack” that left four people dead and 38 others injured in several regions of Ukraine.
In the center, in Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, a missile attack caused the death of one person, according to the same source.
Two people also died in Khmelnitskii, a city in the west, and missiles killed one in the Kharkiv region (north-east), law enforcement said.
They added that five people were injured in the southern town of Zaporizhia, where two buildings were damaged.
The Ukrainian army claimed to have shot down 18 of the 51 missiles fired by the Russians towards “important infrastructure” or industrial and military buildings.
“A large number of ballistic missiles were launched today,” air force spokesman Yuri Ignat told Ukrainian television.
“Many say that the rate [des missiles abattus] is not very high,” he added, judging that even if the army preferred to have “a better ratio”, it was still a “good result”.
The fact remains that Ukraine is seeing its ammunition stocks decline as the Russian army saturates its anti-aircraft defense, a new strategy from Moscow at a time when kyiv is worried about the erosion of Western military support.
Evacuations
On the Russian side, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that 300 residents of Belgorod had chosen to be “temporarily evacuated” in order to be accommodated in areas further from the border.
On Friday, this official suggested to those wishing to evacuate this city, a target of intensifying Ukrainian bombings.
This unprecedented measure for a large city in Russia goes against the efforts of the Kremlin, which has always wanted to support the idea that the conflict does not directly affect the daily lives and security of Russian citizens.
This strategy, however, was shattered on December 30, when a Ukrainian attack on Belgorod left 25 dead, the heaviest civilian death toll on Russian soil since the start of the offensive launched by Moscow in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In retaliation, President Vladimir Putin promised an “intensification” of strikes on this neighboring country, just over two months before the Russian presidential election after which his re-election is in no doubt.
According to Mr. Gladkov, “over the last 24 hours,” regional authorities also “received 1,300 requests” to send children from Belgorod to classes “in other regions.”
When the Russian army massively struck several Ukrainian cities at the end of December and at the beginning of the year, causing several dozen deaths and injuries, the Ukrainian forces responded each time, increasing their attacks on Belgorod.
The Defense Ministry said Russian soldiers had shot down two Ukrainian drones flying in the Bryansk region, which also borders Ukraine.
No casualties or damage have been reported, according to local authorities.
Earlier, the Defense Ministry assured that a Ukrainian S-200 missile was intercepted “over the Belgorod region.”