KYIV – Russia launched new attacks against Ukraine at dawn on Sunday, a day after it vowed to retaliate for what it called a “terrorist attack” on the city of Belgorod.

Several Iranian-made “Shahed” drones targeted Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, according to local authorities, as both sides alternately accused each other of attacking civilian areas on their shared border over the weekend.

“As a result of the night attack by Russian drones on Kharkiv, buildings in the city center were damaged. These are not military facilities, but cafes, residential buildings and offices,” the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram, without mentioning the losses.

“On the eve of the New Year, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not afraid.”

The attack follows the deadliest attack on civilians in Russia since the conflict began in February 2022.

At least 22 people were killed and dozens more injured on Saturday in Belgorod, a Russian city just 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border that Moscow says has been hit repeatedly by indiscriminate shelling.

Moscow said controversial cluster munitions were used in Saturday’s attack, telling an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Kiev had attacked a sports center, an ice rink and a university.

Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya called it a “premeditated, indiscriminate attack on a civilian target.”

Ukraine’s allies countered that responsibility for the invasion of the neighboring country two years ago ultimately lies with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“If Russia wants to hold anyone responsible for the deaths of Russians in this war, it should start with President Putin,” said Britain’s UN envoy Thomas Phipps.

Both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will give New Year’s Eve speeches on Sunday as the conflict between their countries approaches its second anniversary in February.

JANUARY 1, DAY OF MOURNING

In Belgorod, footage posted online showed a street filled with rubble and smoke rising from burned-out cars in the city center. AFP could not immediately verify the circumstances of the strike.

According to authorities in Belgorod, the 22 dead included at least three children and 109 people were injured.

The attack came a day after Ukraine said at least 40 people had been killed in a barrage of Russian missiles targeting several cities, including the capital.

Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping malls and apartment blocks were among the buildings hit by the barrage on Friday, one of the fiercest attacks since the start of the war.

According to local authorities, Ukraine was still sifting through the rubble on Saturday as new strikes took place in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Chernigov regions.

Three more people were killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine on Saturday, officials said.

Prosecutors said Russia’s rocket attacks on Kharkiv on Saturday evening injured 26 people after hitting a number of buildings, including a hotel, a kindergarten, shops and restaurants.

The victims also included a British citizen initially identified as a journalist who was in fact a security adviser to a German media team, the statement added.

January 1 will be declared a day of mourning in the capital Kyiv, where at least 17 people were killed, city officials said.

The Russian army said it carried out “50 group attacks and one major attack” on military facilities in Ukraine last week, adding that “all targets were hit.”

The United Nations condemned the attacks and said they must stop “immediately.”

Appeal to the Western Allies

In the face of ongoing Russian attacks, Ukraine is calling on its Western allies to maintain their military support.

“The next year will be a time of many decisions – global decisions. And Ukraine must be able to influence them in order to achieve its goals,” said Zelensky in his evening speech on Saturday.

“We will fight for our influence, for justice for Ukraine, and I am grateful to all the leaders who help, who have been with us since February 24 and will be with us in 2024.”

Britain said it would send hundreds more anti-aircraft missiles to Kiev after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We must continue to stand by Ukraine – for as long as it takes.”