Vladimir Putin has admitted he’s ‘fuming’ after a series of Ukrainian missile strikes on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed 20 people and wounded 111.
He told a group of wounded Russian soldiers on Monday that the strike was a ‘terrorist attack’, and that Ukraine has deliberately targeted civilians.
Responding to a question from a soldier about how Russia would take revenge, he said: ‘We can we hit squares in Kyiv or in any other city.
‘There are children walking there, moms with prams. I understand, I’m fuming myself. But I want to ask you a question. Is this what we should do?’
Putin said that the strikes, which came amid intensified Russian air assaults against Ukrainian cities Kyiv and Kharkiv, ‘will not go unpunished’.
Putin said he was ‘fuming’ over the attack by Ukraine
He told soldiers at a meeting on Monday that Russia would continue to strike ‘sensitive’ military targets in Ukraine
Ukraine announced that it had destroyed a record number of Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones launched by Russia with 87 out of 90 downed
Putin said that Russia would continue to strike ‘sensitive’ military targets in Ukraine. Russia denies Western and Ukrainian accusations that it targets civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky earlier vowed to unleash his nation’s ‘wrath’ on Vladimir Putin’s forces, after Russian launched a wave of drone attacks on Ukraine in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Ukraine announced that it had destroyed a record number of Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones launched by Russia with 87 out of 90 downed.
In Odesa, one died and nine were wounded as a fire ignited as debris of a Russian drone hit a high rise building.
Zelensky said in his televised New Year’s address to Ukraine that Russia would soon face the ‘wrath of domestic production.’
Ukraine will have at least ‘a million’ additional drones in its arsenal next year, Zelensky added, as well as F-16 fighter jets delivered by its Western partners.
Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support
A block of flats in Odessa was set alight after being hit by a Russian drone
A family with a young child from Odessa are seen moving to a shelter after their flat was hit by a Russian drone
Ukraine announced that it had destroyed a record number of Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones launched by Russia with 87 out of 90 downed
‘Our pilots are already mastering F-16 jets, and we will definitely see them in our skies,’ he said.
Port infrastructure was damaged after explosions triggering a fire, said Nataliya Humenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian southern defence forces.
Defiant Odesa mayor Gennady Trukhanov slammed Russia for staging attack on Ukraine as New Year approached.
‘They say how you celebrate the New Year is how you will spend it,’ he said.
‘Well, this year Ukraine will break this rule.
‘We will stand and we will win for we have justice and God on our side.’
Despite billions of dollars worth of Western weapons, Ukraine struggled to make a major breakthrough in its 2023 counteroffensive against invading Russia
Residents of Odessa are seen sitting outside on New Year’s Day after their block of flats was hit by a Russian drone
Moscow has ramped up pressure along the frontlines, taking several towns and cities
In the village of Belogorscha near Lviv, there was Shahed drone damage to the Roman Shukhevych Memorial Museum due to a Russian attack.
Shukhevych had commanded the Nachtigall Battalion, a volunteer unit operating under the orders of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), as a subunit commanded by German Abwehr special operations.
University dormitories were hit and destroyed in Dublyany near Lviv.
‘This night the enemy hit two places of national memory in Lviv: the university in Dublyany, where [Ukrainian nationalist] Stepan Bandera studied 100 years ago, and the Roman Shukhevych Museum. Symbolic and cynical. A war for our history,’ said Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi.
In Kharkiv region, Russia struck with four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, three Kh-31P anti-radar missiles and one Kh-59, said Ukrainian sources.
Firefighting crews worked late into the night to put put fires caused by drones
In Donetsk – held by Russia – the pro-Moscow leader Denis Pushilin reported four dead and 13 wounded
In Donetsk – held by Russia – the pro-Moscow leader Denis Pushilin reported four dead and 13 wounded.
A military correspondent was reported to have been killed.
The Russian side claimed there were 15 MLRS incoming rockets.
As New Year’s Day dawned, explosions were heard again in Kyiv-controlled city of Kherson.
Air alerts were in place in the Volyn, Rivne, Lviv and Ternopil regions of Ukraine.
The number of victims from the missile attack on Kyiv on December 29 increased to 27, according to the capital city’s military administration.
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air-defence missiles to Kyiv
Ukraine has been in the throes of an invasion for the last 22 months
The rescue operation continues, and today the city has declared a day of mourning.
Putin’s barrage against Russia came as he delivered a New Year address claiming his troops were ‘heroes’.
‘I would like to address our military personnel – everyone who is on duty, who is on the front lines fighting for truth and justice,’ he said.
‘You are our heroes. Our hearts are with you. We are proud of you and we admire your courage.
‘I am well aware that now you feel the love of those nearest and dearest to you, the powerful, sincere support of millions of Russian citizens, the support of the entire people.’
He claimed ‘the main thing which has united us is the destiny of the Motherland’.
And he suggested the Russians were distinguished by ‘mercy’.
‘We are united in our thoughts, tasks and in combat, whether at work or on days off, displaying the main traits of the Russian people – solidarity, mercy and firmness,’ he said in his shortest New Year address in four years.
Despite billions of dollars worth of Western weapons, Ukraine struggled to make a major breakthrough in its 2023 counteroffensive against invading Russian forces.
Moscow has meanwhile ramped up pressure along the frontlines, capturing the eastern town of Marinka earlier in December and pushing for control of Kupiansk in the northeast.
Ukraine is urging Western allies to maintain military support.
Britain announced it would send hundreds more air-defence missiles to Kyiv, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared: ‘We must continue to stand with Ukraine – for as long as it takes.’