Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking civilians over the New Year, with Moscow reporting a deadly attack on a hotel in territory it occupies in southern Ukraine, while kyiv said there had been another widespread attack on its energy supplies.
The reports coincide with intense talks overseen by US President Donald Trump and aimed at ending the nearly four-year war. Each country has said the other is doing everything it can to influence its views and determine the outcome.
“In the New Year, Russia deliberately brings war. More than 200 attack drones were launched against Ukraine overnight,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, saying that energy infrastructure in seven regions of Ukraine had been attacked.
Russia accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone attack on a hotel and cafe where civilians were celebrating the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military, which has accused Russia of killing many civilians in its own attacks on Ukrainian cities, said it was targeting strictly military and energy targets, but made no specific reference to accounts of the hotel attack.
Zelenskiy said Russian attacks during the Christmas season showed that Ukraine could not afford delays in air defense supplies.
“(Our) allies have names of equipment that we are missing. We hope that everything agreed with the United States at the end of December for our defense arrives on time,” he said, without giving further details.
RUSSIANS ALLEGE ‘WAR CRIME’
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, said three Ukrainian drones had attacked celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate attack” on civilians. He said many people had been burned alive.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that in addition to the 24 dead, 50 people had been injured.
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He said the attack, as well as other drone attacks attributed to Ukraine, sought to “divert attention from the failures of the Ukrainian military on the front. The kyiv regime is trying to demonstrate its viability through terrorist acts.”
On Monday, Moscow accused kyiv of trying to attack a residence of President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian and European officials have said the incident did not occur, and U.S. security officials also reportedly found that Ukraine did not target the residence.
A top Russian military chief handed over to a U.S. military attaché what he said was part of a Ukrainian drone containing data he said showed the Ukrainian military had attacked the residence.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reported attack in the Kherson region or photographs of what Saldo’s press service said was the aftermath on Thursday. Saldo said he had briefed Putin on the details of the attack.
The images showed that at least one body was visible under a white sheet. The building showed signs of a fire and there were what appeared to be blood stains on the floor. The Russian news agency TASS published a video showing drone fragments, some with writing in Ukrainian.
Ukrainian officials regularly report civilian deaths from Russian airstrikes, including in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson, which is near the front line.
The Ukrainian governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said a man was killed and an 87-year-old woman was wounded in attacks on the city on Thursday.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said railway facilities had been attacked in three regions.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its strikes had hit military targets as well as energy infrastructure that it claimed was being used to support Ukraine’s military.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, told TASS that those who carried out the attack on the hotel and their commanders should be attacked.
Kherson is one of four regions of Ukraine that Russia claimed as its own in 2022, a move that kyiv and most Western countries denounced as an illegal land grab.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defense units had shot down 35 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours. No casualties or damage were reported.
