Ukraine updates: Putin vows to ‘never back down’ DW 12/31/2023 – DW (English)

The latest bout ofRussian and Ukrainian strikes and their toll on the civilian population took center stage at an emergency meeting of theUN Security Council late on Saturday.

Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod in which 21 people were killed.The emergency session was held less than 24 hours after the Council convened a meeting on Ukraine following large-scale attacks by Russia against Ukrainian towns and cities.

"We unequivocally condemn all attacks on cities, towns and villages, in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,"said Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA)

"Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end now," he added.

Moscow accused Ukraine of using controversial cluster bombs in strikes that killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens more.

Russia said the attack would "not go unpunished."

At the Security Council meeting, Russian diplomat Vasily Nebenzya accused Ukraine of targeting a sports center, an ice rink and a university.

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The Belgorod attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 40 people.

"The Security Council convened yesterday and is meeting again today, and you should be ready to meet tomorrow, the day after tomorrow every day that the Russian war against Ukraine lasts," Ukraine's representative Serhii Dvornyksaid, according to the UN News Service.

"Because as long as this war, unleashed by the Kremlin dictator, endures, the toll of death and suffering will continue to grow," he added.

According to the UN News Service, French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere saidif Russian troops were not on Ukrainian soil, "we wouldn'be here this afternoon."

mfi/lo (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

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Ukraine updates: Putin vows to 'never back down' DW 12/31/2023 - DW (English)