Ukraine's 'Terrorist' Strikes on Russia

"Silence in response to the unbridled barbarity of Ukraine's Nazis and their puppeteers and accomplices from 'civilized democracies' will be akin to complicity in their bloody deeds."

"[Britain and the United States are guilty of encouraging Kyiv to carry out a] terrorist attack."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova

A firefighter takes a pause as he works to extinguish burning cars following what Russian authorities say was a Ukrainian military strike in Belgorod, Russia December 30, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Belgorod, located in Russia near the border with Ukraine, on Saturday was the focus of shelling in its city centre, and not for the first time, since Ukraine was forced to defend itself following Moscow's military invasion almost two years ago on February 14. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that 110 people had been wounded by the strike and 21 Russian citizens were killed. Russian officials are livid; Ukraine had carried out a terrorist attack on a Russian city.

 

That attack took place one day following an 18-hour aerial bombardment across Ukraine, hitting various cities, with a death toll of 41 civilians. That, of course, was a perfectly logical, legitimate attack, since Russia really was aiming at military installations of a fascist government, and the strikes of missiles and Shahed drones obviously inadvertently were misdirected. In Belgorod, plumes of smoke rose among damaged buildings as air raid sirens blared. A counter-image of what Ukrainian cities have repeatedly undergone.

 

Covered bodies lie on the ground following what Russian authorities say was a Ukrainian military strike in Belgorod, Russia December 30, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

This was a daylight attack; previous hits in Belgorod have taken place at night, resulting in fewer lives lost. Belgorod lies 40 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, 670 km south of Moscow. Moscow considers its strikes at Ukrainian towns, villages and cities are legitimate issues of a conflict it was forced to initiate in fears of Ukrainian fascists overwhelming Russian democracy. When Ukraine returns the compliment, however, it is clearly terrorism. 

Ammunition used in the strike has been identified by Russia's Defence Ministry as Czech-produced Vampire rockets and Olkha missiles fitted with cluster-munition warheads. No doubt Moscow is planning some future retaliation against the Czech Republic. Iran, on the other hand, producer of the Shahed drones, is the very picture of an honourable collegial nation of humanitarian credentials eager to present itself as an icon of global security. "This crime will not go unpunished", the Ministry stated.

A meeting of the UN Security Council was called, by Russian diplomats, relating to the strike. Moscow reported they had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones earlier on Saturday over the Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions. Cross-border shelling led to two more deaths in Russia. Across western Russia, cities have come under attack regularly from drones since May, Russian officials blaming Kyiv. Moscow feels it has the impunity to regularly bomb Ukrainian cities, but it is outrageous when Kyiv responds in kind.

Ukrainian large aerial strikes against Russia tend to follow heavy assaults on Ukrainian cities, and that makes no sense whatever to the Kremlin. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported ten Iranian-made Shahed drones wee shot down across the Kherson, Khmelnytskyi and Mykolaiv regions, with local officials reporting people killed by Russian missiles. 

Moscow's forces launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones across Ukraine on Friday, described by one air force official in Ukraine as the largest aerial barrage of the war in total. That caused 39 deaths and led to the wounding of 160 others, along with an unknown number of victims buried under the rubble caused by the assault, which targeted er, damaged a maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools.

 

Kyiv's military targeted the Russian city of Belgorod a day after Russia launched a massive air assault on Ukrainian cities   Image: Russia Emergency Situations Ministry via Telegram/AP/picture alliance