Russia pummeled the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading up to New Year’s Eve in what Moscow said was retaliation for an alleged deadly Ukrainian air assault on Saturday on the Russian city of Belgorod.
Residents of the Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, which is just 60 miles across the border from Belgorod, were jolted by multiple air raid sirens overnight, as several waves of ballistic missiles and attack drones rained on the city center, injuring nearly 30 people and damaging private homes, hospitals and a hotel, according to Ukrainian officials.
“These are not military facilities, but cafes, residential buildings and offices,” Ihor Terekhov, Kharkiv’s mayor, said in a post on social media that included a video of firefighters trying to extinguish a blaze amid a pile of rubble.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attacks on Kharkiv “struck decision-making centers and military facilities,” asserting, for instance, that the Kharkiv Palace Hotel, which a missile hit, was housing members of Ukraine’s armed forces and intelligence services. The strike left a hole the length of several stories in the hotel’s facade.
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