UPDATES WITH LATEST CASUALTY FIGURES; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE; ADDS STATEMENT FROM UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, KYIV GOVERNOR, KHARKIV MAYOR; EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - At least four people were killed and 90 others injured in Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday, officials said, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s Saturday attack on Belgorod “will not go unpunished.”
“The liquidation of the consequences of another Russian attack is now underway ... Kyiv and the region, Kharkiv. At this time, it is known about 92 wounded. Everyone gets help. Unfortunately, four people died," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Expressing that all necessary services are involved, including more than 500 rescuers from Ukraine's State Emergency Service, Zelenskyy claimed Russia used about 170 drones and dozens of rockets of various types since Dec. 31, the “majority” of which he said were aimed at civilian objects.
"I thank all partners who help in strengthening our air shield. And it's obvious that it helps save hundreds of lives every day and every night that would have been taken by Russian terror if it weren't for Patriots and other defense systems," Zelenskyy further said, adding that Russia "must feel the consequences of what it does."
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that an elderly woman was killed in Ukraine's capital, while 33 people were injured, 32 of which were hospitalized.
Separately, Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of the Kyiv region, said two people died and 11 more were injured, including one child.
Ukraine’s private energy provider DTEK reported that electricity in parts of Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi, Svyatoshynskyi, Holosiivskyi, Podilskyi and Obolonskyi districts have been cut off. There is also a power outage in Buchanskyi and Vyshhorodskyi districts of the broader Kyiv region, it added.
Meanwhile, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that one person was killed and 45 others, including five children aged 6 to 13, were injured in the city.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, claimed that the country's air defenses downed 35 drones and 72 different types of missiles.
Reacting to a Ukrainian attack on the city of Belgorod on Saturday which killed at least 25 people, Putin said on Monday that Russia will not let “a single crime of this kind” go unpunished.