Powerful explosions rocked many Ukrainian cities on Monday morning. The missile attacks in Kiev and several other cities in the region came two days after the explosion on the bridge connecting Russia with the annexed territory of Crimea and hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “terrorist act” organized by the intelligence services. special of Ukraine.
Monday’s attacks were apparently carried out in retaliation for the bombing of the bridge, which was the main artery for transporting and supplying Russian forces and military equipment to eastern Ukraine.
Rostyslav Smirnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, said that according to preliminary information, at least eight people were killed and 24 wounded in just one of the attacks in Kiev.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions were reported in the city’s Shevchenko district, a large area in central Kiev that includes the historic old city as well as several government offices.
Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, posted a photo showing at least one explosion near the main building of Kyiv National University in the city center.
Find out Russia targeted civilian areas and energy infrastructure as air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine, apart from Russian-annexed Crimea, for four straight hours.
Reporters of the Associated Press news agency in the city of Dnipro saw the bodies of many people killed in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city.
Ukrainian media also reported explosions in a number of other areas including the western city of Lviv, which is a haven for many people fleeing fighting in the east, as well as in Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
The multiple attacks came hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold a meeting with his security council, as Moscow’s war in Ukraine approaches the eight-month milestone and Russian forces experience humiliating withdrawals from battlefields in areas it is trying to annexed by a Ukrainian counterattack in recent weeks.
The day before, Vladimir Putin called the attack on the Kerch bridge in Crimea a terrorist act carried out by the Ukrainian special services. In a meeting on Sunday with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, he said that “there is no doubt that it was a terrorist act aimed at destroying extremely important civilian infrastructure.”
Amid the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram account that Russia is “trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth.”
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote that “Putin’s only tactic is terror on peaceful Ukrainian cities, but he will not destroy Ukraine. This is also his answer to all those who want to talk to him about peace: Putin is a terrorist who talks with rockets,” he wrote.
