Russia Intensifies Attack on Ukraine, Several Cities Bombed, Many Killed or Wounded

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Taking its “special operations” in Ukraine to another level, Russia on Monday unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities smashing civilian targets including downtown Kyiv where at least eight people were killed.

The attack on the Ukrainian capital city after a break of over three and half months apparently was in retaliation to Saturday’s bombing of a bridge by the Ukrainian forces disrupting Russia’s only communication with Crimean Peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later said the strikes on Ukraine came in response to Kyiv’s “terrorist” action as it called the bombing of the Crimean bridge. “The authors, perpetrators and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services,” Putin said of Saturday’s bombing of Crimea bridge which he described as a “terrorist act.”

Mr. Putin said the Russian military launched precision weapons from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities. He warned that if Ukraine continues to mount “terrorist attacks” on Russia, Moscow’s response will be “tough and proportionate to the level of threats.” Russian officials had also “denounced” on Sunday what they said was a surge in Ukrainian fire into its territory that had hit homes, administrative buildings and a monastery.

The intense, hours-long attack marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow. It came a day after Mr. 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. At least eight people were killed and 24 were injured in just one of the Kyiv strikes, according to preliminary information, said Rostyslav Smirnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs.

Ukraine’s presidency said on Monday there were strikes on “many” cities in Ukraine, a day after Moscow blamed Kyiv for the explosion on the bridge. “Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information about strikes in many cities of our country,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media, calling on the population to “stay in shelters.”

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. It came a few hours before Mr. Putin was due to hold a meeting with his security council.

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 Zelensky said Russian forces had 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, Mr. Zelensky said in a video address. “(The Russians) chose such a time and such targets on purpose to inflict the most damage,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Zelensky said people had been killed and injured following multiple strikes on cities across Ukraine, including the first bombardment on the capital for months. “Air raid sirens are not subsiding around Ukraine… Unfortunately there are dead and wounded. Please do not leave the shelters,” President Zelensky said on social media, accusing Russia of wanting to “wipe us from the face of the Earth.”

Zelensky also denounced a Russian missile strike on Sunday that killed at least 13 people, one of them a child, in Zaporizhzhia — the latest deadly bombardment of the southern Ukrainian city. The attack also wounded 89 people, including 11 children, according to a statement from the president’s office. Zelensky described the “merciless strikes on peaceful people” and residential buildings as “absolute evil” perpetrated by “savages and terrorists”.

The Monday 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 bomb shelters. 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.

Some journalists covering the war saw the bodies of multiple people killed at an industrial site on the Danipro city’s outskirts. Windows in the area had been blown out and glass littered the street. A telecommunications building was hit. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv that has been a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting in the east, as well as in Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.

Kharkiv was hit three times, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The strikes knocked out the electricity and water supply. Energy infrastructure was also hit in Lviv, Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three cruise missiles launched against Ukraine from Russian ships in the Black Sea crossed Moldova’s airspace, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nicu Popescu complained. Amid the onslaught, Mr. Zelensky said on his Telegram account that Russia is “trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth.”

The attacks appeared set to bring a fresh bout of international condemnation for Russia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said the Group of Seven industrial powers will hold a videoconference Tuesday on the situation which Mr. Zelensky will address. Germany currently chairs the G-7.

Ukrainian Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba broke off his Africa tour and headed back to Ukraine, saying on Twitter the attacks represented “terror on peaceful Ukrainian cities.” Some feared Monday’s attacks may just be the first salvo in a renewed Russian offensive. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education announced that all schools in Ukraine must switch to online classes at least until the end of this week.