Heavy Shelling from Ukraine in the Russian border city of Belgorod killed 20 people and injured over 100 others on Saturday.

Moscow: At least 18 people, including two children, were killed, and more than 100 others were injured as a result of heavy Ukrainian shelling on Russia’s Belgorod on Saturday, as reported by CNN, citing Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. The dreadful attack from Kyiv came in response to the recent aerial attack by Russia on Ukraine, in which 31 people lost their lives. Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Dmitry Polyanskiy, stated on Saturday that his country has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack, according to CNN. “This crime will not go unpunished,” the Defence Ministry of Russia stated in a statement after the heavy sheeling.

“The Kyiv regime… is trying to divert attention from the defeats on the front lines and to provoke us into taking similar actions,” the statement said, according to CNN.

The bombardment on Saturday follows Russia’s largest airstrike against Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, which was carried out overnight on Thursday and into Friday and resulted in at least 40 deaths and over 150 injuries.

For more than a year, Ukrainian forces have been attacking Russian areas close to the border virtually every day. While occasionally civilians have been killed, this would be one of the bloodiest incidents so far.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed about the attack. A health ministry team and emergency ministry rescuers were sent to the city to help the affected people.

About 40 civilian facilities have also been damaged in the massive Ukrainian shelling in the city. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday that the security forces had destroyed 32 Ukrainian UAVs flying over Bryansk, Oryol, Mursk, and Moscow.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on the incidents and has not claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Russian city, as reported by CNN.

(With ANI Inputs)