Reuters quoted Ukrainian officials as saying that on December 31, Russia attacked the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones, hours after Moscow accused Kiev of carrying out a deadly airstrike right across the border in the nearby city of Belgorod.
Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that in the first wave of Russian attacks, at least 6 missiles attacked Kharkiv, injuring at least 28 people.
Ukrainian authorities had previously said two 14- and 16-year-old boys and a security adviser to a group of German journalists were among the injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.
The city's Mayor said that as part of a broader excavation, several Russian drones also attacked residential buildings in central Kharkiv, causing fires.
"On the eve of the new year, Russia threatens our city, but we are not afraid - we are invincible!" - Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated.
Images from Kharkiv show the buildings were severely damaged, including a hotel where many windows were blown away.
The Ukrainian air force announced that it had shot down 21 of the 49 drones launched by Russia overnight. Most of them are in the front lines and the areas of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.
The strikes came just hours after Russia accused Ukraine of "laden" airstrikes on the city of Belgorod, near Kharkiv and just north of the Ukrainian border, killing at least 24 people and injuring 108.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper quoted a source close to the Russian Investigative Committee as saying that Ukraine launched an attack on Belgorod from a multiple rocket launcher in the Kharkiv region.
RT reported that Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia spoke at the United Nations Security Council on December 30 that the attack on Belgorod showed that Ukraine was trying to kill as many risks as possible of the Russian people.
Mr. Nebenzia rejected the Western view that tragedy could have been avoided if Russia had not launched a military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022.
Its a lie... We have launched a special military operation to stop what Kiev is doing in Donbass bombing their cities and towns without getting punished for eight years, the Russian diplomat told his Western counterparts.
The Russian ambassador added that Ukrainian and British advisers were directly involved in staging the terrorist attack on Belgorod, and EU countries must also take responsibility.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commented on the attack in Belgorod, saying the reason was that Ukraine was unlikely to change the situation on the front line.
Earlier this month, the Russian army took Donbass's key stronghold of Maryinka near the city of Donetsk. Kiev has not admitted to losing the town but said it has withdrawn troops to the suburbs.
