KONTAN.CO.ID - KHARKIV. Russia pounded the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year's Eve, Ukrainian officials said, hours after Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly air assault just across the border on nearby Belgorod. In the first waves of Russia's attacks, at least six missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's National Police said on Sunday, injuring at least 22 people and hitting 12 apartment buildings, 13 residential houses and a kindergarten. Earlier, Ukrainian officials said that among those injured in Kharkiv were two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a team of German journalists.
Closer to midnight, as part of a wider bombardment of Ukraine that also targeted Kyiv, several waves of Russian drones hit residential buildings in Kharkiv's centre, spouting fires, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, said. "On the eve of the New Year, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared - we are unbreakable and invincible!" the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said. Read Also: Israel Seeks Full Control of Gaza-Egypt Border, Netanyahu Says The attacks came within hours after what Moscow said was an "indiscriminate" Ukrainian air attack on the city of Belgorod, near Kharkiv and just north of Ukraine's border, that killed at least 22 people.
