The attack, which occurred on Saturday, resulted in the death of 24 people and left over 100 wounded in Belgorod. This incident followed Moscow's large-scale attack on Ukrainian cities.

“We’re going to intensify the strikes, no crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that’s for certain,” Putin stated on Monday during a visit to a military hospital.

He affirmed that Russia would persist in targeting what he referred to as "military installations."

“We are doing that today, and tomorrow we will continue doing it,” Putin said, almost two years into Moscow’s offensive.

He spoke as Ukraine said Russia had hit it with a “record” number of drones on New Year’s Day.

Putin called the Belgorod hit a “terrorist attack” and accused Ukrainian forces of targeting “right in the city centre, where people were walking, before New Year’s Eve.”

He repeated a claim that Ukraine is being used by the West to “settle its problems” with Russia.

The Russian leader said he believed the “strategic initiative” in the dragging conflict was on the Russian side.

“In any case that is how I am being briefed and I always insist: any offensive operations should be done after a defeat of the enemy,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.