Russia: 300 evacuated in Belgorod over Ukraine offensives

Russia has evacuated around 300 residents of Belgorod, a city near the Ukrainian border, over strikes by Kyiv, the governor of the region said on Monday.

“Some 300 residents of Belgorod, who decided to temporarily evacuate, are at the moment being housed in temporary shelter centers in Stary Oskol, Gubkin and the Korochansky districts” which are further from the border, Belgorod’s regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video posted on Telegram.

The evacuation is the largest of a major Russian city since its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday that its air defense systems intercepted a Ukrainian S-200 missile over the Belgorod region.

Calling it “a terrorist attack attempt by the Kyiv regime”, the ministry said in a statement that the missile was targeting facilities inside Russia.

The ministry also said air defense systems in the past 24 hours intercepted 14 HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket munitions, six Neptune anti-ship missiles and almost 40 Ukrainian drones, as Russians celebrated Orthodox Christmas on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a large-scale missile attack across Ukraine at the start of peak morning hours on Monday, injuring several people, Ukrainian officials said.

Reuters reported that all of Ukraine was under air raid alerts from around 6 am local time, with Ukraine’s Air Force saying the country was under several waves of cruise missile threats and ballistic missiles in some regions.

Ukrainian military officials in Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytskyi said their cities were under a “massive missile attack” by Russia.

The attacks were carried out after Russia launched 28 attack drones and three cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight on Sunday. Ukraine’s Air Force claimed to have destroyed 21 drones.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation on the battlefield at this time remains relatively stable.

“Ukraine is already and will always be one of the most significant European donors of security, and we strive for the best weapons and technology in the world, for our own security and the security of our partners,” he told a conference in Sweden via video link.

Zelensky said Ukraine has already begun joint defense activities with Turkiye, Romania, Poland and Great Britain. In addition, there are corresponding agreements with the Czech Republic, the United States and Germany.

As Ukrainian state agency Ukrinform reported, Ukraine and Sweden are discussing joint work in the field of innovation, as well as the possible transfer of Gripen aircraft to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.