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Russian forces launched a barrage of fatal bombardments across Ukraine early on Monday and President Vladimir Putin vowed even more “severe” retaliation against Kyiv.
The biggest wave of strikes across Ukraine in months killed at least 11 people nationwide, and was apparent retaliation for an explosion this weekend that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces had fired more than 80 missiles on cities across the country and that Russia had also used Iranian drones launched from neighbouring Belarus.
“Let there be no doubt,” Putin said in televised comments addressed to his security council, “if attempts at terrorist attacks continue, the response from Russia will be severe.”
Putin’s predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on social media that the strikes -- which disrupted water and electricity services across Ukraine -- were only “the first episode”.
“We were sleeping when we heard the first explosion. We woke up, went to check and then the second explosion came,” Ksenia Ryazantseva, a 39-year-old language teacher, told AFP.
“We saw the smoke, then the cars, and then we realised we didn’t have a window anymore,” she added.
“There’s no military target or anything like that here. They’re just killing civilians”.
‘Demonstration of weakness’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian strikes had aimed to take down Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Regional officials across the country confirmed widespread disruptions to services.
Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile confirmed it had targeted Ukrainian energy, military command and communications facilities, claiming the strikes had been a success and “achieved their aims”.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said the attacks had not been “provoked” and the onslaught was Moscow’s response to a series of embarrassing military losses in eastern Ukraine. “Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favour,” minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on social media.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities were “unacceptable”.
“This is a demonstration of weakness by Putin, not strength,” he tweeted, adding that he had contacted Kuleba.
Zelensky said on social media meanwhile that he had spoken with the leaders of France and Germany and urged them to “increase pressure” on Russia.
Dozens injured
In Kyiv, the national police service said that at least 11 people had been killed and at least another 64 wounded. Ukrainian officials said the central Shevkenko district of the city was hit and that a university, museums and the philharmonic building had been damaged.
