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A wave of rocket attacks hit Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities on Monday morning
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were “deaths and injuries” from the blast
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It comes after a massive explosion last weekend damaged the bridge between Russia and Crimea
Russia unleashed a deadly barrage of attacks on multiple Ukrainian cities on Monday, destroying civilian targets, including central Kiev, where at least eight people were killed.
The intense, hour-long attack marked a sudden military escalation through Moscow. It came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin called a Saturday explosion on the massive bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimea territory an “act of terrorism” concocted by Ukrainian special services.
At least eight people have been killed and 24 injured, according to preliminary information, said Rostyslav Smirnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry.
The ongoing barrage of major cities hit residential areas as well as critical infrastructure, signaling a major wave of war amid a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive in recent weeks. It came hours before Putin was due to meet with his security council, as Moscow’s war in Ukraine nears its eight-month milestone and the Kremlin reels from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas it seeks to annex.
According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, blasts have occurred in the capital’s Shevchenko district, a large area in central Kiev that includes the historic Old Town and several government buildings.
Some strikes hit the government quarter in the symbolic heart of the capital, where the parliament and other important monuments are located. A glass tower containing offices was significantly damaged, most of the blue-tinted windows had been blown out.
Residents were seen on the street with blood on their clothes and hands. A young man in a blue coat sat on the floor while a medic wrapped a bandage around his head. A woman with a bandage on her head had blood all over the front of her blouse. Several cars were also damaged or completely destroyed. Air raid sirens sounded repeatedly across the country and in Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces have launched dozens of missiles and Iranian-built drones against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said 75 rockets were fired at Ukrainian targets, 41 of which were neutralized by air defenses.
The targets were civilian areas and energy facilities in 10 cities, Zelenskyy said in a video speech. “(The Russians) deliberately chose such a time and such targets to do the most damage,” Zelenskyy said.
The morning strikes sent Kiev residents back to air raid shelters for the first time in months. The city’s subway system stopped train services and made the stations available again as air raid shelters.
While air-raid sirens sounded during the war in Ukraine’s major cities across the country, in Kiev and other areas that had been quiet for months, many Ukrainians began to ignore their warnings and go about their normal business.
That changed Monday morning. The attacks arrived in Kiev at the beginning of the morning rush hour, as commuter traffic began to pick up. At least one of the vehicles hit near Kiev’s National University turned out to be a commuter minibus, known as a ‘marshrutka’, and a popular, albeit often crowded, alternative to the city’s bus and metro routes .
Nearby, there was at least one strike in the popular Shevchenko Park, leaving a large hole at a children’s playground.
Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing at least one explosion near the main building of the Kiev National University in central Kiev.
Elsewhere, Russia targeted civilian areas and energy infrastructure for four hours as air raid sirens sounded in every region of Ukraine except Russia-annexed Crimea.
Associated Press journalists in the city of Dnipro saw the bodies of several dead in an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city. Windows in the area were shattered and there was glass on the street. A telecommunications building was hit.
Ukrainian media also reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv, a refuge for many fleeing fighting in the east, as well as in Kharkov, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
Kharkiv was hit three times, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The strikes explained the electricity and water supply. Energy infrastructure was also affected in Lviv, regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.
Three cruise missiles launched against Ukraine from Russian ships in the Black Sea crossed Moldova’s airspace, Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu lamented.
A day earlier, Putin had called the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea an act of terrorism carried out by Ukrainian special services. In a meeting with the chairman of the Russian Commission of Inquiry on Sunday, Putin said that “there is no doubt that it was an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critical civilian infrastructure.”
The Kerch Bridge is strategically important to Russia, as a military supply line to its forces in Ukraine, and symbolically as an emblem of its claims to Crimea. No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the 19-kilometer-long bridge, the longest in Europe.
Amid the attack, Zelenskyy said on his Telegram account that Russia is “trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth”.
The attacks appeared to trigger another onslaught of international condemnation for Russia.
Spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Steffen Hebestreit, said the Group of Seven Industrial Powers will hold a video conference on Tuesday about the situation that Zelenskyy will discuss. Germany currently chairs the G-7.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba broke off his Africa tour and went back to Ukraine, saying on Twitter that the attacks represented “terror on peaceful Ukrainian cities”.
Some feared Monday’s attacks may be the first salvo in a renewed Russian offensive. The Ukrainian Ministry of Education has announced that all schools in Ukraine must switch to online classes at least until the end of this week.
@ APNews
