Ukraine war: death toll rises to four amid Russia evacuates hundreds from major city

• Russia launched 51 missiles, 18 of which were shot down.
• Russia claimed to have only struck “military” targets.
• The largest evacuation from a major Russian city since the conflict began occurred in Belgorod.

A “massive” wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine on Monday resulted in the death of four people, officials reported, as authorities in the Russian border city of Belgorod evacuated hundreds due to Ukrainian shelling.

As the war approaches its second anniversary, both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of causing dozens of civilian casualties in a sharp escalation of attacks.

Ukraine’s air force stated on social media, “Overnight on 8 January 2024, the enemy launched a massive attack on Ukraine.”

In total, Russia launched 51 missiles, with 18 of them being shot down. Russian missiles hit a shopping center and high-rise buildings in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, resulting in the death of one person, as reported by deputy head of the presidency Oleksiy Kuleba.

“In Kryvyi Rih, there are many breakages in power grids, there are power outages, and electric transport does not work,” he said.

In a separate missile attack in the western region of Khmelnytsky, officials reported the death of two people, while an elderly woman in the Kharkiv region died after being pulled from the rubble of her home. Russia, in its latest defense ministry briefing, claimed to have only struck “military” targets.

The missile strikes:

The missile strikes coincided with Russia evacuating around 300 people from the border city of Belgorod due to Ukrainian shelling, marking the largest evacuation from a major Russian city since the conflict began. Kyiv’s forces launched waves of deadly strikes on Belgorod, which is located less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.

About 300 residents who opted to leave are now residing in temporary accommodation in the towns of Stary Oskol, Gubkin, and the Korochansky district, which are further from the border, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“Over the past 24 hours we received 1,300 requests to send Belgorod children to school camps away from the city in other regions,” he added.

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