UAV event in Ukraine on Mon 1st January 2024

Russia launched a massive retaliatory air strike against a Ukrainian border city late Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring 28 others — hours after the deadliest Ukrainian attack on Russian soil since the war began.

Dozens of Russian mIssiles and drones rained down on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, striking a kindergarten, homes, retail shops and a local hotel housing journalists — the latest in a series of back-and-forth air attacks between the warring nations in recent days, CNN reported.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a statement that a British journalist was injured in the attack, as was a translator and security guard from the German public broadcasting network ZDF when the Kharkiv Palace Hotel was struck by Russian bombs. 

“This is another attack by Russia on the free press,” ZDF editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten told The Associated Press on Sunday. 

The Ukrainian Air Force said it downed 21 of 49 armed drones sent to attack the eastern city, with many still finding targets on the ground.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it had targeted “decision-making centers and military facilities in the attack” and said the strike on the hotel “destroyed representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate and Ukrainian Armed Forces.” 

The attack came after Russia vowed revenge when the border city of Belgorod was struck by Ukrainian bombs Saturday, killing at least two dozen people — including three children — in the deadliest attack on Russian soil since the country invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago. 

Russian officials called it a “terrorist attack” during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday night, saying the bombardment was “a deliberate act of terrorism directed against civilians.

“This crime will not go unpunished,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. 

That attack followed an earlier 18-hour bombardment by Russian forces along the Ukrainian border Friday, which killed at least 41 people — one of the deadliest single assaults during the prolonged conflict.  

Officials in Ukraine now say they are bracing for further attacks. At least three civilians were killed by Russian forces on New Year’s Eve last year.