Deadly Russian missile strikes hit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv Monday as part of what Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted was a “massive strike” against Ukraine in response to the recent destructive attack on the bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland.
The Ukrainian military said Russia launched a barrage of 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones, hitting at least 14 areas of the country, and killing at least 14 people. Most of the attacks on Kyiv hit the center of the city, killing at least six people there and wounding 12 others in populated areas, including parks and tourist sites.
The attacks also caused a blackout in much of the country, with hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday night.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Western allies were quick to condemn the attacks and vowed to continue to send armaments to Kyiv’s forces to help fend off Moscow’s invasion, now in its eighth month.
Biden said in a statement that Russia’s latest missile launches “once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”
“These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Biden said. “Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.”
In a phone call later Monday, Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Washington would provide Ukraine with advanced air defense systems, according to a statement from the White House.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “shocked and appalled by the vicious attacks on Ukrainian cities. Putin’s Russia has again shown the world what it stands for: brutality and terror.”
Putin told a meeting of his security council that the strikes targeted Ukraine’s energy, military and communications infrastructure, and that they were in response to an attack Saturday on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow illegally seized in 2014.
"It is obvious that the Ukrainian secret services ordered, organized and carried out the terrorist attack aimed at destroying Russia's critical civilian infrastructure," Putin said.
Aside from Kyiv, explosions were also reported in the western city of Lviv, the southeast city of Dnipro and the eastern city of Kharkiv. Ukraine’s military said it shot down 56 of the Russian aerial targets.
Zelenskyy said Russia targeted civilian areas as well as power systems throughout the country, seeking to generate “panic and chaos” and to destroy Ukraine’s energy system.
The Ukrainian president said he would be addressing an urgent meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations and discussed the situation with both German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. Germany said the meeting will take place Tuesday.
“We discussed the strengthening of our air defense, the need for a tough European and international reaction, as well as increased pressure on the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy tweeted after his talks with Macron.
Macron’s office said he reaffirmed France’s commitment to increase support for Ukraine, including military aid.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply shocked” by the Russian attacks, his spokesman said. “This constitutes another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price,” the spokesman added. Guterres later talked with Zelenskyy, saying they agreed that the world must react to Russia’s attack as soon as possible.
Ukraine has strongly suggested its security agents carried out the truck bomb attack on the bridge but has not publicly claimed responsibility. The bridge has been a major supply route for Russian operations in southern Ukraine.
Putin said any continued “terrorist attacks” by Ukraine on Russia would be met with a “tough and proportionate” response.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba contended the bridge attack did not provoke Putin “to unleash missile terror.”
“Russia had been constantly hitting Ukraine with missiles before the bridge, too,” Kuleba tweeted. “Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “deeply shocked” by Russia’s attack on Kyiv and other cities.
“Such acts have no place in 21st century. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” Borrell tweeted. “We stand with Ukraine. Additional military support from the EU is on its way.”
Kyiv was last attacked in June. Once under pressure from advancing Russian forces, Kyiv had been relatively calm for months as fighting raged in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“Massive shelling of Ukrainian cities is a large-scale live war crime and a no-rules war,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a Zelenskyy adviser, tweeted. He said the only possible response is for Ukraine to receive missile defense systems, expelling Russia from international forums and issuing immediate arrest warrants for Russian authorities.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that Belarus and Russia will deploy a regional military grouping in response to what he said were escalated tensions on their borders. A report from the state-run Belta news agency did not specify where the group would be deployed.
In the lead-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Belarus hosted Russian troops for what the two countries maintained were just military drills before Russia sent its forces over the border into Ukraine.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
