Russian Defense Ministry announces retaliation for Ukraine's 'terrorist attack'
(Baonghean.vn) - The Russian Ministry of Defense said that many defense officials who orchestrated the December 30 missile attack on Belgorod have been eliminated.
According to RT, the Russian Defense Ministry said on December 31 that its military had conducted a series of high-precision missile attacks targeting Ukrainian military facilities and officials in response to Ukraine's attack on Belgorod on December 30 that killed more than 20 civilians.
In a statement issued on December 31, the ministry said Moscow's forces attacked decision-making centers and other military targets in the city of Kharkiv, not far from the border between the two countries.
A high-precision missile strike on the former Kharkov Palace hotel eliminated “representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were directly involved in planning and carrying out the terrorist attack in Belgorod,” the source said.
The building also housed about 200 foreign mercenaries preparing for “terrorist attacks” on Russian territory, Russian officials added.
Other attacks targeted the building of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Russian officials said: “Representatives of the SBU leadership, foreign mercenaries and Kraken unit fighters who were directly preparing sabotage operations on Russian territory were eliminated.”
In addition, the source said an attack was carried out on a branch of the national space control center in western Ukraine, which Kiev uses for reconnaissance work. According to the statement, fuel depots in Kharkiv and the Kiev-controlled part of Russia's Zaporozhye Region were also destroyed.
At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that its troops “only strike military targets and infrastructure directly related to them.”
Ukrainian officials in Kharkiv confirmed the series of attacks, saying there had been six strikes that damaged “civilian infrastructure” with 28 people injured.
According to RT, this new attack was in response to the Ukrainian bombing of Belgorod that killed at least 24 people, including four children, and injured 108. Moscow said the attack used both cluster munitions and Czech-made ammunition.
On December 30, Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's special envoy to the United Nations, accused Western countries of "complicity" in the attack, warning that those who staged the incident would be "punished".