Russia says attacks in Ukraine in response to border raid

MOSCOW/KYIV — Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had attacked "decision-making centers" and military facilities in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight in retaliation to Ukraine's bombardment of the Russian border city of Belgorod.

Ukrainian officials said Russia had pounded Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year's Eve, injuring at least 28 people and hitting residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities.

The Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod has caused 24 deaths, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, said on Sunday.

In a posting on Telegram, Gladkov said 108 were wounded in Saturday's attack, which he said had damaged 37 apartment buildings among other locations.

According to a report from the Russian Defense Ministry, Belgorod and the region were shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Friday and Saturday. The last one was carried out by two rockets with cluster munitions and from a multiple-launch rocket system.

The ministry said the air defense systems intercepted rockets and most shells on Saturday and destroyed 13 rockets over the territory of the Belgorod region on Friday night.

Ukrainian local media reported that the Ukrainian forces struck Russian military facilities in the Belgorod region, as reported by Xinhua citing an unnamed source in Ukraine's security services.

The joint activities of Ukraine's defense forces continue as a "consequence of the Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians", the source said.

On Friday, Russia launched a massive air attack on Ukraine, killing 30 people and injuring 160 others, according to Ukrainian authorities.

UN emergency meeting

Meanwhile, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, on Saturday called on the parties concerned in the Ukraine crisis to put an early end to hostilities.

The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday to consider civilian casualties resulting from the conflict in Ukraine. On Saturday, at Russia's request, the council met again to deliberate on the same issue.

China is saddened by this dense flurry of deliberations by the council of the grievous attacks and civilian casualties toward the end of the year, Geng said.

"We are deeply concerned by the protraction of the Ukraine crisis and by the raging flames of war that continue to cause untold devastation at a time when the New Year is just around the corner," he told the council.

"We renew our appeal to the parties concerned to respond positively to the international community's call for peace," he said.

Agencies - Xinhua