Russia claims that Ukraine has carried out devastating missile strikes against Russian civilians. It has not been able to present convincing evidence.
Russia claims 14 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a Ukrainian airstrike on the city of Belgorod on Saturday. Belgorod is located 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
According to the Russian Ministry of Emergencies, two children are among the dead. The claims have not been able to be confirmed by an unbiased source.
On Saturday, the Russian media published few pictures of the destruction of the alleged attack. In the video published by the Ostorozhno Novosti news site, the eyes are drawn to suspicious details.
For example, the clouds of smoke visible above the city seem to originate from cars that have caught fire. However, the visible damage around the cars looks very minor, almost non-existent.
The pictures published after the attacks do not support the claim that Ukrainian missiles that wounded more than a hundred people hit the area.
Ukrainian news site Ukrainian Pravda says, citing his own sources, that Ukraine would have targeted military targets in the Belgorod region on Saturday.
According to an intelligence source, the damage to the city was caused by a mistake made by the Russian air defense, which resulted in parts of the intercepted missiles falling in the center of the city of Belgorod.
Ukraine has yet to officially comment on the Belgorod attack.
“This crime will not go unpunished”
The Russian Ministry of Defense has said that it condemns Ukraine’s alleged attack against the Russian civilian population. At the same time, Russia also convened the UN Security Council.
– The Kyiv administration, which is behind this crime, is trying to shift attention away from the losses suffered at the front and provoke us into similar actions. However, we would like to emphasize that the Russian armed forces will only attack military targets, the Ministry of Defense says of The Guardian by.
– This is how we intend to act in the future. This crime does not go unpunished.
The statement of the Ministry of Defense is false, because during the almost two-year war of aggression, Russia has also attacked Ukrainian civilian targets without pause.
Most recently, yesterday, Russia carried out the largest air attack of the entire offensive war on cities across Ukraine.
President of Ukraine to Volodymyr Zelensky according to the attack, at least 39 people died. According to the president, there are 159 wounded.