Putin says Russia will ’intensify’ attacks on Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow would intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine, after an unprecedented Ukrainian attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod.

The Ukrainian attack on Saturday, which killed 25 people including five children, came after Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukrainian cities, reports BSS/AFP

Meanwhile, Kyiv said Russia had targeted the country with a "record" number of drones on New Year's Day.

"We're going to intensify the strikes. No crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that's for certain," Putin said during a visit to a military hospital.

His comments came at the end of a deadly week in Ukraine, with both sides hitting each other with large-scale attacks.

Putin said Russia would continue to hit what he called "military installations".

"We are doing that today and tomorrow we will continue doing it," Putin announced, speaking almost two years into Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine.

"What happened in Belgorod is a terrorist act," Putin told wounded Russian soldiers sitting near him in hospital pyjamas and sanitary masks. "There is no other way to call it."

Putin accused Ukrainian forces of targeting "right in the city centre, where people were walking around, before New Year's Eve" and alleged they had "purposefully hit the civilian population".

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Monday that the death toll from the attack on the city had risen to 25, saying medics were unable to save a toddler who was seriously injured in the attack.

"This is an irreparable loss for all of us," Gladkov said. He said a total of 109 people were wounded, 45 of which are still in medical facilities.

Speaking about the situation on the battlefield, Putin said he believed the "strategic initiative" in the drawn-out conflict in Ukraine was on the Russian side, since the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summer.

He also claimed Moscow wanted to end the conflict -- which has dragged on for almost two years -- "as quickly as possible" but "only on our terms", according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency.