Russia attacked the city of Kharkov, in northwest Ukraine, in retaliation for the Ukrainian bombing this Saturday against the Russian city of Belgorod, which left at least 24 dead and more than a hundred injured, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.
"In response to this terrorist act, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation attacked decision-making centers and military facilities in the city of Kharkiv," the ministry said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
The governor of the Ukrainian region, Oleg Sinegoubov, said that the rockets hit a hotel, residential buildings, clinics and hospitals, injuring 28 people. Among them were two teenagers and a British man, a security adviser to a team of German journalists, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The Russian military command indicated that the "Kharkov Palace" hotel complex was hit, where "representatives of military intelligence and the armed forces of Ukraine who directly participated in the planning and execution of the terrorist attack against Belgorod" were liquidated.
"There were up to 200 foreign mercenaries there that they planned to use to launch terrorist raids on Russian territory bordering Ukraine," the statement added.
With the attack on Belgorod, the Ukrainian army would have responded to the massive bombings carried out the previous day by Russian forces against kyiv and other cities in Ukraine, the largest of the entire war, since Moscow used some 160 missiles and drones.
The massive bombings of Ukraine, which left at least 39 dead and 160 injured, and the attack on Belgorod prompted two meetings in 24 hours of the UN Security Council, the first convened by kyiv and the second by Moscow.
At yesterday's meeting, on behalf of the UN, Deputy Secretary of Departments of Political and Peace Affairs Khaled Kiari condemned "all attacks on cities, towns and villages in Ukraine and the Russian Federation," and warned of " dangers of further escalation and spread of this war.
