Ukraine’s military says it shot down 21 of 49 drones overnight

The Air Force of Ukraine said in a statement on the Telegram platform that the drones were directed at “the front line of defense, as well as civilian, military and infrastructure facilities in the front areas.” It did not say whether the six missiles hit their targets.

Russia launched new strikes once morest Ukraine at dawn on Sunday, a day following vowing revenge for what it called a terrorist attack in the city of Belgorod. According to the latest data, at least 22 people were killed and dozens more injured in the Ukrainian strikes there.

Over the weekend, the two countries took turns blaming each other for shelling civilian areas in the shared border region.

“The nighttime Russian drone attack on Kharkiv damaged buildings in the city center. These are not military facilities, but cafes, residential houses and offices,” the city’s mayor Ihoris Terechova wrote in Telegram.

“On New Year’s Eve, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not afraid,” he said.

Oleh Synjehubov, head of the Kharkiv city military administration, said 28 civilians were injured in the attack.

Among the injured are two teenagers and a foreign national, he said.

The strike in Belgorod was the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.

At least 22 people were killed and dozens wounded on Saturday in Belgorod, a Russian city just 30 km from the border that Moscow says has been repeatedly shelled indiscriminately.

Moscow said controversial cluster munitions were used in Saturday’s attack and told an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council that Kyiv had shelled a sports center, an ice arena and a university.