President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Monday that multiple missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, including the capital for the first time in several months, resulted in deaths and injuries. The strikes may herald a significant escalation in the eight-month-old conflict.
“Air raid sirens are still audible throughout Ukraine… Sadly, there are deaths and injuries. Please do not leave the shelters,” Zelensky wrote on social media, accusing Russia of wishing to “wipe us from the face of the Earth.”
The explosions occurred one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for a huge explosion on a 12-mile bridge between Russia and Crimea. Crimea is a vast peninsula in Ukraine that Russia captured and unilaterally annexed during a previous invasion eight years ago. Ukraine, the United Nations, the U.S., and other Ukrainian partners have criticized the annexation of this territory, as well as Putin’s recent land grab of four Ukrainian regions that he designated Russian territory last week, as illegitimate and unlawful.
On October 10, 2022, rescue workers inspect the scene of a Russian attack on Kiev, Ukraine. Following months of relative peace in the Ukrainian capital, several explosions shook the city early in the morning. Adam Schreck / AP
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the vice president’s chief of staff, stated on social media on Monday that “Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information regarding strikes in numerous American cities.”
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, stated on Twitter that Russia had launched 75 missiles towards Ukraine, but “41 of them were neutralized by our air defence.”
Zelenskyy later emerged onto a street in Kyiv to shoot a selfie video with a message to his countrymen and the world, condemning Russia for allegedly targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and civilians with a barrage of missiles.
“They purposefully chose this time and these targets to wreak as much harm as possible,” claimed the president. “However, we Ukrainians help one another, have faith in ourselves, and restore everything. Now there may be electrical shortages, but there will be no shortage of our resistance and faith in our victory.”
At least five explosions were heard in two salvos by AFP reporters in Kiev on Monday morning, and a BBC News correspondent had to crouch for cover as a big explosion occurred while he was on television. Some of the missiles struck the capital city’s core. Previous attacks primarily targeted the outskirts of Kiev.
Social media videos depicted black smoke rising above many city neighborhoods.
The last Russian attack on the capital occurred on June 26.
Russia starts lethal strikes in Ukraine in response to military losses at 02:40
Lviv, in the far west of Ukraine, which has been a haven for many people escaping the war in the east, was one of the other major cities struck by explosives on Monday.
Monday morning, witnesses reportedly reported a loud explosion in the Belgorod region of Russia, which borders Ukraine on the east. According to one witness who spoke to Reuters, there was a huge blast and the windows shook. The explosion’s cause was unclear.
The explosions occurred a day after Putin claimed Ukraine was responsible for an explosion that killed three people on the Kerch bridge connecting Russia and Crimea.
Putin stated that the Ukrainian secret services were responsible for Saturday’s bridge bombing, which he labeled as a “terrorist crime.”
At 02:38, a vital supply channel for Russia’s campaign in Ukraine, the Crimea Bridge, was destroyed.
Russian news outlets said that Putin spoke during a meeting with the head of the investigation team he established to investigate the bombing. According to the Kremlin, the Russian leader was preparing for a meeting with his Security Council later on Monday.
“The president is scheduled to meet with the permanent members of the Security Council tomorrow,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The bridge explosion prompted social media celebrations among Ukrainians and others. However, Zelenskyy did not directly reference the incident in his Saturday night talk, and Kyiv officials have not directly claimed responsibility.
Russia announced on Saturday that some car and rail travel had resumed over the crucial link, a potent reminder of the 2014 takeover of Crimea by the Kremlin. During Russia’s invasion of south and eastern Ukraine, the bridge has acted as a critical supply link between Russia and the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Some military analysts think that the explosion might have a significant impact if Moscow decides to transfer soldiers from other regions to Crimea, or if it spurs a mass exodus of residents.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian senior officer who now works for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, stated that even if Kyiv was not responsible for the explosion, it represented “a tremendous influence operation victory for Ukraine.
“It demonstrates to Russians and the rest of the world that Russia’s military is incapable of protecting any of the recently acquired regions,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rescuers assemble near a destroyed residential structure in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 9, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. MARYNA MOISEYENKO / AFP / Getty Images
Zelenskyy, meantime, condemned a Russian missile assault on Sunday that killed at least 17 people in Zaporizhzhia, the city’s most recent fatal bombardment. 89 individuals were injured in the incident, according to a statement from the president’s office.
Zelenskyy referred to the “ruthless attacks on harmless civilians” and residential structures as “total wickedness” committed by “savages and terrorists.”
Regional official Oleksandr Starukh uploaded images of severely damaged apartment buildings on social media and announced that a rescue operation had been initiated to locate those buried beneath the wreckage.
In the meantime, Russian officials decried on Sunday what they deemed to be an escalation of Ukrainian fire into their territory that had targeted residential areas, administrative facilities, and a monastery.
Russia’s FBS, which is in charge of border security, stated on Sunday, “Since the beginning of October, the number of attacks by Ukrainian military formations on Russia’s border area has increased significantly.”
The statement indicated that more than one hundred artillery assaults, focused in the western border districts of Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk, had struck residential and governmental structures. The attacks had resulted in one fatality and five injuries.