Kharkiv and Belgorod: the strikes before 1 January 2024
A look back at the attacks on Kharkiv and Belgorod in the final days of 2023, and the competing accounts of what happened in Belgorod.
What did the days leading up to 1 January 2024 look like along the Ukrainian-Russian border? They were marked by attacks on two cities, Kharkiv and Belgorod, with civilian casualties reported in both.
In Kharkiv, Russian forces attacked with missiles on 30 December 2023, injuring at least 16 people, including a foreign journalist, and damaging civilian infrastructure. On 31 December 2023 the city was bombarded again. Ukrainian authorities said 26 people were injured and that many residential buildings in the city centre were destroyed. The Ukrainian Air Force reported shooting down 21 of 49 attacking drones.
Belgorod
On 30 December 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had launched drone and missile strikes on the Russian city of Belgorod, killing 25 people and injuring 110. Russian sources described the explosions as shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukraine attributed them to the work of Russian air defence.
The accounts of Belgorod therefore diverged from the outset, while the Kharkiv reports came from Ukrainian authorities and described attacks by Russian forces on residential areas and civilian infrastructure. By the start of 2024, both cities had seen casualties in the space of two days.
