St. Petersburg canceled New Year's Eve celebrations at short notice following missile attacks on the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border. The decision not to hold a concert to see in 2024 came as a fire gutted a premises in Moscow in the latest unexplained blaze to hit a building in Russia in recent months.
St. Petersburg's Gov. Alexander Beglov posted on Telegram on Sunday that a concert planned for Palace Square in the city center had been canceled to show solidarity with Belgorod following a missile attack which Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.
The attack on Belgorod appeared to be Kyiv's response to a massive and deadly Russian air assault a day earlier and was swiftly followed by what Ukrainian officials said were Russian drone and missile strikes against the city of Kharkiv, about 40 miles away in an apparent retaliation.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that at least 24 people had been killed in the strike, including three children, and 110 injured on Saturday, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, has opened a criminal case into "attempted murder," "murder" and "deliberate destruction or damage to property."
Russian authorities said most of the rockets it claims were fired by Ukraine had been shot down, but that debris had fallen on the city. Kyiv has not officially commented and Russian assertations could not be independently verified.
Beglov said that residents had asked him not to hold New Year's celebrations and that his city could help Belgorod repair destroyed facilities, adding, "St. Petersburg is with Belgorod."
Video shared on social media showed how Nevsky Prospect, a main street in Russia's second city leading to Palace Square, had been closed with the announcement about the cancelation being made over a loudspeaker.
Meanwhile, social media users shared video of a fire which had broken out at a facility in the west of Moscow, around nine miles from the Kremlin. Black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky amid the sound of explosions.
Emergency services told the state-run news agency Tass that a fire had broken out in a "hangar with diesel fuel" on Krylatskaya Street and that explosions had been heard inside the premises, which belong to a ski resort.
The fire had spread across 800 square meters (8,600 square feet), Tass said, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Environmental Prosecutor's Office of Moscow, which Newsweek has contacted for comment by email, posted images of the burnt-out building on Telegram and said it was investigating the circumstances of the fire.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there have been numerous unexplained fires and explosions at facilities like depots, with many incidents blamed on Kyiv.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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