Russia launched a fresh drone assault on Ukraine after promising that strikes on the Russian border city of Belgorod that killed 24 people on Saturday “would not go unpunished”.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday that it had shot down 21 of 49 drones launched by Russian forces overnight.

The retaliatory Russian attack wounded 28 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

A hotel, kindergarten, apartment buildings, shops and administrative buildings sustained damage, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had targeted “decision-making centres and military facilities” in Kharkiv. The ministry said the hit on the Kharkiv Palace Hotel had “destroyed representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate and Ukrainian Armed Forces” involved in the “terrorist attack” in Belgorod.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a British journalist was among the wounded, while public German broadcaster ZDF said on Sunday that one of its television crews had been in the hotel. A Ukrainian translator was hit by debris and seriously wounded, and one of the team’s security guards also was injured, ZDF said in a statement.

“This is another attack by Russia on the free press,” ZDF editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten said.

‘Crime will not go unpunished’

On Saturday, shelling in the centre of Belgorod killed two dozen people, including three children. Another 108 people were wounded in the strike, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday, making the attack one with the most casualties on Russian soil since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine 22 months ago.

Russian authorities accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack, which took place the day after an 18-hour Russian aerial bombardment across Ukraine killed at least 41 civilians.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it identified the ammunition used in the strike as Czech-made Vampire rockets and Olkha missiles fitted with cluster-munition warheads. It provided no additional information, and The Associated Press was unable to verify its claims.

“This crime will not go unpunished,” the ministry said in a statement on social media.

In an emergency Saturday night meeting of the UN Security Council demanded by Russia, envoy Vasily Nebenzya accused Kyiv of a “terrorist attack”. In comments carried by Russian state media, Mr Nebenzya claimed Ukraine had launched “a deliberate act of terrorism directed against civilians”.

Ukrainians are bracing for further attacks. A blistering New Year’s Eve assault by Russia last year killed at least three civilians.

Putin mentions ‘difficult problem’ in New Year’s speech

Russian President Vladimir Putin made only passing reference in his New Year address to his war in Ukraine, hailing his soldiers as heroes but mostly emphasising unity and shared determination.

The pre-recorded address was in sharp contrast to last year when he stood behind grim-looking soldiers to make a stern call for sacrifice in what he cast as a fight for survival.

“To everyone who is at a combat post, at the forefront of the fight for truth and justice: You are our heroes, our hearts are with you. We are proud of you, we admire your courage,” Mr Putin said, this time with the more traditional backdrop of the Kremlin walls.

Ukraine was not mentioned by name, nor the “special military operation”, Mr Putin’s term for the war he unleashed in February 2022 by sending Russia’s armed forces into Ukraine.

Russian news agencies later quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying Mr Putin had telephoned Russian military commanders in six sectors of the war in Ukraine to offer New Year greetings.