Kyiv: Russia unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities Monday, smashing civilian targets including downtown Kyiv where at least six people were killed amid burnt-out cars and shattered buildings that brought back into focus the grim reality of war after months of easing tensions in the capital.
Police said a total of at least 10 people were killed and around 60 others were wounded in the morning attacks across Ukraine.
The country’s Emergency Service said nine people were killed.
The conflicting numbers couldn’t immediately be reconciled.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military invaded neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24, said the strikes were in retaliation for what he called Kyiv’s “terrorist” actions — a reference to Ukraine’s attempts to repel Moscow’s invasion forces and cripple their supply lines.
The actions he referred to include an attack last weekend on a key bridge, prized by the Kremlin, between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Putin vowed a “tough” and “proportionate” response should Ukraine carry out further attacks that threaten Russia’s security.
“No one should have any doubts about it,” he said.
Monday’s intense, hours-long attack by Russia marked a sudden military escalation in its assault on Ukraine.
It came a day after Putin called the explosion Saturday on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a “terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.
Putin, speaking in a video call with members of Russia’s Security Council, said the Russian military launched “precision weapons” from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities.
The missile strikes marked the biggest and most widespread Russian attacks in months.
Putin, whose partial mobilisation order earlier this month triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age from Russia, stopped short of declaring martial law or a counterterrorism operation as many had expected.
But the sustained barrage on major cities hit residential areas and critical infrastructure facilities alike, portending a major surge in the war amid a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks and raising questions about how “precise” Russia’s targeting is.
Moscow’s war in Ukraine is approaching its eight-month milestone, and the Kremlin has been reeling from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas of eastern Ukraine it is trying to annex.
Blasts struck in the capital’s Shevchenko district, a large area in the centre of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Some of the strikes hit near the government quarter in the symbolic heart of the capital, where Parliament and other major landmarks are located.
A glass tower housing offices was significantly damaged, most of its blue-tinted windows blown out.
Residents were seen on the streets with blood on their clothes and hands.
A young man wearing a blue jacket sat on the ground as a medic wrapped a bandage around his head.
A woman with bandages wrapped around 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 Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched dozens of missiles and Iranian-built drones against Ukraine.
The General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said 75 missiles were fired against Ukrainian targets, with 41 of them neutralized by air defences.
The targets were civilian areas and energy facilities in 10 cities, Zelenskyy said in a video address.
“(The Russians) chose such a time and such targets on purpose to inflict the most damage,” Zelenskyy said.
The morning strikes sent Kyiv residents back into bomb shelters for the first time in months. The city’s subway system stopped train services and made the stations available once more as places for refuge.
While air raid sirens have continued throughout the war in Ukraine’s major cities across the country, in Kyiv and other areas where there have been months of calm many Ukrainians had begun to ignore their warnings and go about their normal business.
That changed on Monday morning.
The attacks arrived in Kyiv at the start of the morning rush hour, when commuter traffic was beginning to pick up.
At least one of the vehicles struck near the Kyiv National University appeared to be a commuter minibus, known as a “marshrutka” and which is a popular albeit often crowded alternative to the city’s bus and metro routes.
Nearby, at least one strike landed in the popular Shevchenko Park, leaving a large hole near a children’s playground.
Among the targets hit was a pedestrian bridge known as the Klitschko bridge — a landmark in central Kyiv with its glass panels.
Closed-circuit television footage shared by an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister showed a huge explosion as the bridge was apparently targeted. A man seen on the bridge just before the explosion is seen running away after the blast.
Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, tweeted a photo showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv.
Elsewhere, Russia targeted civilian areas and energy infrastructure as air raid sirens sounded in every region of Ukraine, except Russia-annexed Crimea, for four straight hours.
