2024-01-02 02:30:11
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Vishnevsky military clinic of the Russian Defense Ministry on the outskirts of Moscow, January 1, 2024. SPUTNIK/VIA REUTERS
And “terrorist act”. Russia thus characterizes any repercussions from the war it is waging in Ukraine occurring on its own territory. Vladimir Putin did not deviate from this rule on Monday, January 1, when referring to the strikes which hit the Russian city of Belgorod two days earlier – the deadliest since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, with twenty- five civilians killed, including four children, and around a hundred injured.
The Russian president spoke from a military hospital in the Moscow region, surrounded by convalescent soldiers. The day before, in his wishes to the nation, he had not had a word for this city located about twenty kilometers from the Ukrainian border, opposite Kharkiv. Mr. Putin was content to discuss the conflict in general terms, praising the unity of the country: “We have proven time and again that we can solve the most difficult tasks and that we will never back down because no force can divide us. »
On Monday, the president pretended to question the soldiers gathered in front of him about the appropriate reaction, assuring that « [lui] also boiled »before deciding: “We are striking with precision weapons the places of decision-making, the places where soldiers and mercenaries gather, other centers of this type, military installations above all. This is what we will continue to do, (…) Ukraine is not our enemy »indicated Vladimir Putin, however promising a « intensification » of these strikes.
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According to him, Ukrainian forces deliberately carried out bombings in “right in the center of the city, where people walk, before New Year’s Eve”what is more by using multiple rocket launcher systems, “a weapon that strikes indiscriminately” – which Russian troops have used countless times since the start of the conflict against Ukrainian cities.
One of the most exposed cities in Russia
The images of the bombing of Belgorod are reminiscent of those that regularly arrive from Ukraine: damaged buildings, burning cars, bodies on the sidewalks, panicked civilians… Many residents complained, Saturday December 30, 2023, that the air raid shelters were remained closed and the sirens sounded late, even though the city is one of the most exposed in Russia to Ukrainian bombing. The toll is the heaviest recorded in one day on Russian territory.
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