Vladimir Putin vows revenge for ‘terrorist’ attack in Belgorod

Vladimir Putin has threatened ­retaliation for a Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod that left 24 people dead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a military hospital in Moscow on Monday. Picture: AFP

Vladimir Putin has threatened ­retaliation for a Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod that left 24 people dead.

On a visit to a military hospital, the Russian President described the largest ­attack on Russian soil since he ­ordered the invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago as “a terrorist act” and added: “We’re going to intensify the strikes. No crime against civilians will rest unpunished.”

Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, which struck the southern Russian city, close to the border. Ukrainian-backed groups have previously launched minor incursions into Russia, and long-range drones have hit Moscow and other cities, although these have never been acknowledged by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces.

Mr Putin said Russia would strike “military installations” in response to the Belgorod attack.

Almost 90 kamikaze drones were directed at Ukraine in an 11-hour onslaught that carried on until the early hours of Monday. The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 51 Iranian-made drones.

The damaged Lviv National University of Nature Management after a drone attack on the outskirt of Lviv on Monday. Picture: AFP

Odesa, where a 15-year-old boy died during the bombardment, bore the brunt of the attack, with 28 Iranian-made drones shot down over the city.

“They say that how you welcome the new year is how you will live the year,” mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said. “Well, this year Ukraine will break this rule: we will persevere and we will win.”

In Lviv, drones targeted two buildings associated with prominent Ukrainian nationalists.

Both the Roman Shukhevych Museum, dedicated to a resistance fighter of World War II, and the Dubliany university, the alma mater of Stepan Bandera, another figure celebrated in Ukraine and vilified in Russia, were hit. Other regions including Mykolaiv and Dnipro were also struck during the drone attack.

The frontlines of the war have barely shifted in the past year and are set to remain static over the winter, but the aerial war has ­intensified in recent days after warnings that Russia has stockpiled missiles for the winter.

Ukraine is equipped with sophisticated air defences supplied by the West, but Russia is believed to have accumulated enough missiles and drones to launch more complex and widespread attacks.

The Russian-installed leader of Donetsk said four people died and a further 13 were injured by Ukrainian “heavy shelling” on New Year’s Day.

The Times