Kiev has once again demonstrated its “neo-Nazi essence” to the world, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday following a deadly Ukrainian attack on the city of Belgorod, which is located about 25 miles (40 km) away from the border between the two countries.
The Ukrainian missile strike launched earlier on Thursday left at least seven people dead, including a one-year-old baby, and injured 19 more, including four children, according to the authorities. The attack also damaged 128 apartments, 15 residential homes, an industrial enterprise, four shops and over 30 cars, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Kiev’s attack had “absolutely no military meaning,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed in a statement.
“It is obvious that Kiev Nazis, suffering failure after failure on the battlefield, barbarically take out their anger on peaceful Russian citizens,” the statement read. Ukraine’s latest “terrorist attack” has highlighted the “criminal role of the ‘collective West,’ led by the US,” who supply Kiev with deadly weapons which are being used against innocent civilians, the ministry added.
Moscow “strongly condemns this heinous crime against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it said, vowing that the attack will be thoroughly investigated and “the perpetrators will be severely punished.”
“We call on the international community to condemn this outrageous criminal act. We intend to initiate consideration of this issue in the UN Security Council and other international structures,” the statement concludes.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that Moscow’s forces had intercepted 14 projectiles launched from a RM-70 Vampire multiple-launch rocket system over Belgorod Region.
Communities in Russian border regions, including Belgorod, have repeatedly been subject to Kiev’s missile and drone strikes in recent months. One of the deadliest of these hit Belgorod in late December, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the time called the attack a “terrorist act,” vowing to respond by targeting Ukrainian military installations. He stressed, however, that Moscow does not plan to retaliate in kind by attacking civilians.