Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday in Moscow, commenting on the military strikes against Belgorod, that Kiev is not ashamed of shooting at civilian targets and using cluster munitions against the city center where there are no military facilities.
He added, “Our soldiers will continue to do everything in their power to first reduce this danger and then eliminate it completely. That is why the special operation continues.”
He refused to comment on allegations from Ukrainian and American official sources that Russia had deployed North Korean missiles in Ukraine.
“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that on the day before New Year's Eve, our territory and civilian objects, including the center of Belgorod, were constantly bombed by shells and missiles launched by Germany, France, Italy, the United States of America and other countries. Let us not Forget this!”
According to Russian reports, Ukrainian forces bombed Belgorod center on December 30 with two cluster missiles and rocket-propelled grenades from Czech-made serial launchers. The attack killed 25 people, including five children, and injured more than a hundred others. More than 800 apartments and 132 private homes were damaged at the time, but since then the neighborhood has come under repeated attacks from Ukraine.
Olga Medvegieva, deputy governor of the Belgorod region for internal policy, said 380 people from the capital of the same name and its surrounding areas had previously been moved to safer areas, and another 80 followed on Tuesday. According to a previously compiled report by another deputy governor, Andrey Melikin, about two thousand beds are being prepared in holiday camps in seven Russian regions to house schoolchildren in Belgorod during the extended winter holidays. (MTI)
