Particularly deadly strikes have increased in recent weeks on both sides of the border. Monday evening, the governor of the Russian city of Belgorod denounced Ukrainian attacks forcing the evacuation of citizens, while at least four people died in several Russian strikes on Monday.
Information to remember
⇒ Evacuation of residents in Belgorod after Ukrainian strikes
⇒ Four dead and dozens injured in Ukraine
⇒ Pope denounces “war crimes” against civilians
Russian city of Belgorod hit again
“Last night, the city of Belgorod was bombed again and people were injured. Currently, there are 3 people in intensive care, all of them underwent operations,” the governor of the Russian oblast said on Tuesday morning from Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, in a video published on Telegram.
The Russian city located near the border with Ukraine has been the target of several attacks by Ukrainian armed forces in recent days. As a result of these strikes, on Monday, the governor of the Russian region announced that around 300 residents had been evacuated, while “1,300 requests to send children from Belgorod to school camps outside the city, in other regions” had been formulated.
The Russian army will do “everything” to stop Ukrainian strikes on Belgorod, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, assured the press. “Our military will continue to do everything in its power to first minimize the danger and then eliminate it completely,” he said.
Five dead in new Russian strikes
Ukrainian authorities announced Tuesday the death of a new person after Russian strikes overnight from Sunday to Monday, bringing to five the number of civilians killed in this new wave of bombings. “Unfortunately, another deceased person was found during rescue operations, a man born in 1955,” the mayor of the western town of Khmelnitskii announced on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky deplored on Monday the death of “four people” and reported “45 injured” in Russian bombings, which killed one person in Kryvyï Rig (center), one in Kharkiv (north-east) and now three in Khmelnitskii after the discovery of this new body.
Pope denounces “war crimes” against civilians
Pope Francis denounced on Monday the “war crimes” perpetrated against civilians in the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, rejecting the notion of “collateral damage”. “In a context where discernment between military and civilian objectives no longer seems to be observed, there is no conflict which does not end up in some way blindly hitting the civilian population. The events in Ukraine and Gaza are proof of this “obvious”, declared the sovereign pontiff on the occasion of his traditional wishes at the beginning of the year to the diplomatic corps.
“We must not forget that serious violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes,” Francis stressed, calling for “an increased commitment from the international community to the protection and implementation of humanitarian law.” .