Russia has accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone attack on a hotel and cafe where New Year celebrations were taking place in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, first made the claim in a statement on Telegram before Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and senior politicians later accused Ukraine of carrying out “a terrorist attack”.
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Saldo also published photos of what he wrote was the aftermath of the attack, which Al Jazeera has not been able to verify.
At least one person’s body was visible in the images beneath a white sheet.
The building showed signs that a fierce fire had raged, and there were what appeared to be bloodstains on the ground.
In the statement, Saldo said three Ukrainian drones had struck the site of New Year celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate strike” against civilians. He said many people were burned alive.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said initial information indicated that 24 people had been killed, and that 50 people had been injured.
“There is no doubt that the attack was planned in advance, with drones deliberately targeting areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the attack “a war crime”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram that Ukraine’s backers in the West were ultimately to blame.
Senior politicians, including the speakers of both houses of Russia’s parliament, condemned Kyiv.
Kherson is one of the four regions in Ukraine that Russia claimed as its own in 2022, a move Kyiv and most Western countries denounced as an illegal land grab.
Ukraine’s military did not comment on Moscow’s claim, but it said it had hit Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region overnight, adding that the results of the attack were still being confirmed.
In a statement on Telegram, the military also said it hit the Almetyevsk oil facility in Russia’s Tatarstan region.
The Almetyevsk facility is more than 965km (600 miles) from the nearest part of Ukraine, and even further from the nearest territory currently controlled by Kyiv.
Russia releases video of ‘attack’ on Putin’s residence
On Tuesday, Moscow claimed that Ukraine launched a long-range drone attack against one of President Vladimir Putin’s official residences in northwestern Russia, which Kyiv has denounced as a “lie”.
Russia’s Defence Ministry released a video on Wednesday of a downed drone it said was involved in the attack.
The night-time clip showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing near a damaged drone lying in snow.
The man, with his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Defence Ministry provided any location or date.
The video and claims could not be independently verified.
Peace talks
Kyiv has called the allegations of an attack on Putin’s residence a ruse to derail ongoing peace negotiations, which have ramped up in recent weeks on both sides of the Atlantic.
In his New Year’s address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a peace deal was “90 percent ready” but warned that the remaining 10 percent, believed to include key sticking points such as territory, would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live”.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday that he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had had a “productive call” with the national security advisers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ukraine to discuss the “European peace process”.
“We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of [Trump’s] peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
Lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov also reaffirmed that European and Ukrainian officials plan to meet on Saturday, while Zelenskyy is due to hold talks next week with European leaders.
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia attacked the Odesa region overnight, targeting civilian infrastructure in several waves of drone attacks, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
In a post on Telegram, Kiper said a two-storey residential building was damaged and that a drone hit an apartment on the 17th floor of a high-rise building without detonating. No casualties were reported.
In its daily report, the air force said air defence forces had downed or suppressed 176 of 205 drones targeting Ukraine overnight.
It said 24 drone hits were recorded at 15 locations, and the attack was ongoing.
