Kremlin Sounds the Alarm on Increased Attacks on Border Region

Russia vowed to do "everything" possible to protect the city of Belgorod as Ukraine ramps up its attacks on the border region in western Russia.

The promise comes a day after the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that it intercepted an attack by Ukraine on Monday. Residents of Belgorod have been advised to evacuate from the Ukrainian border in light of Kyiv's repeated assaults in recent weeks, including one late last month that Russian officials said killed dozens of citizens.

"Of course, our military will continue to do everything in order to minimize the danger at first and then eliminate it entirely," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

The Kremlin has long tried to keep a sense of normalcy for its residents amid the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv's attacks on Belgorod threaten to upend that narrative.

Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post to Telegram on Monday that around 300 residents who have "decided to evacuate temporarily, are currently being housed in temporary shelter centers in Stary Oskol, Gubkin and the Korochansky district."

Recent attacks on Belgorod have also seen a higher casualty rate than in the past—an assault on Russia's border on December 30 killed 25 residents and injured over 100 others, said Russian officials.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the fatal attack, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed the finger at the United Kingdom and the United States for "inciting" Kyiv to carry out the assault.

"Great Britain is behind the terror attack, as it, in coordination with the United States, is inciting the Kiev regime to terrorist actions as it understands that Ukraine's counteroffensive has failed," Zakharova alleged.

"London, as the Ukrainian presidential office representatives have recently said, has banned the Kiev regime from holding talks with the Russia side, staking on a 'victory on the battlefield.'"

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office previously told Newsweek via email, "We are not going to provide a running commentary on each and every one of Russia's baseless conspiracy theories about the West. Save that they are, and remain, nonsense."

The White House has not yet responded to Zakharova's allegations.

"Today, the Kyiv regime attempted an indiscriminate combined strike on the city of Belgorod with two 'Olkha' missiles in a banned cluster configuration, as well as Czech-made Vampire rockets," the Russian Defense Ministry wrote in a Telegram post following the December 30 attack. "This crime will not go unpunished."

One source close to Ukraine told the BBC that more than 70 drones were launched on Belgorod during the December 30 strike in "response to Russia's terrorist attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilians."

The unnamed source also claimed that Kyiv only targeted military infrastructure and that the "incompetent work of Russian air defense" was to blame for civilian casualties.

The Kremlin launched what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called one the most intensive air strikes of the war on December 29, targeting several cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv.

As of Tuesday, the Kyiv City Military Administration said that the death toll from the attack had risen to 33 civilians after another body was found among the rubble of a destroyed building.

Newsweek has reached out to Ukraine's Foreign and Defense Ministries for comment via email.