RUSSIA has accused Ukraine of launching a vicious New Year drone strike that killed 24 people, including a child, and left many more wounded.
Shocking pictures have emerged of a cafe and hotel that was allegedly levelled by the overnight strike on the New Year’s Party.
Mad Vlad is said to be plotting a devastating retaliatory attack after what felt like a “nuclear strike”.
The alleged assault came during Putin’s pre-midnight TV address marking New Year, in which he vowed victory in the war, apparently sabotaging hopes of an imminent peace deal brokered by Donald Trump.
The Kremlin has been accused of fabricating a false flag situation to sidestep US-led pressure to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Supposed “evidence” of a Ukrainian plot to destroy Putin’s Valdai complex were brushed off as “laughable” by Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi.
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The CIA and NSA’s investigation into the incident concluded that the drone swarm was targeting a military site rather than the dictator’s favourite palace
There was no immediate independent corroboration that Ukraine had staged the attack at a hotel and cafe in resort Khorly, in Putin-occupied Kherson region, and Kyiv did not initially comment.
Nor was there any evidence that alleged victims were mainly civilian – as Russia asserted – and not military.
Russia reported that some 13 people including two children were in hospital in Kherson region and Crimea after earlier claiming 50-plus were wounded.
Ukrainian channel Exilenova+ said: “Collaborators and Russian fascists had gathered in Khorly.
“They celebrated New Year’s, basically…..It’s a total mess there.”
Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko added: “Unknown drones hit a cafe in Khorly, Kherson region, where the occupiers were celebrating the New Year. Collaborators report dozens of deaths.
“It is possible that this is another provocation by the Russians to disrupt the peace process.”
Hours after the strike around the stroke of midnight happened, the first pictures were released showing damage to the hotel and cafe.
Footage was shown of one victim who was reportedly hospitalised from the attack.
Propaganda channel War Gonzo said: “One of the drones carried an incendiary mixture – due to this, a powerful fire broke out after the hit. Many people were caught in the fire alive.
“Firefighters were able to completely extinguish the fire only by morning.
“Among the victims is a child, and there are also reports of several injured children who were hospitalised with injuries. Medical services continue to provide assistance to the victims.”
Leading Putin propagandist Margarita Simonyan said of the alleged attackers: “They’re not just war criminals, they’re sadists, worthy of their spiritual fathers – the Gestapo members.”
“Several dozen people were celebrating New Year’s Eve. As a result of the Ukrainian strike, most of them were killed, and many were injured,” reported RG news outlet.
“Law enforcement officers are currently working at the scene.”
A village administration official said: “We are waiting for the opportunity to retrieve the bodies of those who died.
“People were burned alive, and it’s impossible to identify them.
“Work is underway to determine the identities of the dead and injured.”
Moscow has now unleashed a wave of invective on Ukraine, with warnings of retribution.
Putin’s foul-mouthed ally Dmitry Medvedev – a former Russian premier and president – vowed: “The Banderite [Ukrainian nationalist] bastards should be slaughtered like sick pigs.
“Wherever they are: in stinking Ukraine, in Europe, or at sea resorts.”
Medvedev – who once had his finger on the Kremlin’s nuclear trigger and is now Putin’s deputy on the Russian security council – warned: “Retribution that is inevitable and imminent in the course of our Army‘s offensive.”
Vladimir Saldo – the Putin-appointed puppet-ruler in occupied Kherson region – said of today’s attack: “The bodies of those killed in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack on Khorly were almost completely burned, as if after a nuclear strike.”
Children were among the victims – yet the building does not show the level of incineration to match his ‘nuclear’ description.
Close Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko, dictator of Belarus, warned a raging Putin could inflict “disaster” on Ukraine, implying he could seek to kill Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv’s government headquarters.