Russia pummels Ukrainian cities including Kyiv; many killed

Russia’s military hurled a barrage of missiles against Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, early on Monday (October 11), striking civilian targets in what could be Moscow’s retaliation for the bombing of a key bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said that 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 Ukraine from the face of the Earth.

The first strikes on Kyiv in four months targeted the center of the city, an Emergency Service spokesperson told the AP. The explosions hit Kyiv around 8:15 am local time.

Blasts were reported in the city’s Shevchenko district, a large area in the center of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv.

#Dnipro this morning. #Russia Attacks in the downtown. People documented on their way to work pic.twitter.com/2UdOdFVzb3

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) October 10, 2022

And how was your commute to work this Monday morning? Because this is what it looked like to people in #Kyiv pic.twitter.com/oQOrz5wN75

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) October 10, 2022

Also Read: Ukraine nuclear plant reconnected to grid after line was cut

After the first early morning strikes in Kyiv, more loud explosions were heard later in the morning in an intensification of Russia’s attack that could spell a major escalation in the war.

“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”. Kyiv says Russia launched 75 missiles on Ukraine on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Associated Press journalists in the center of Dnipro city, saw the bodies of multiple people killed at an industrial site on the city’s outskirts.

Windows in the area had been blown out and glass littered the street. 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 Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.

In Lviv, energy infrastructure was hit, Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. The explosions were heard by AP journalists and appeared to be the result of missile strikes.

Also Read: Putin tightens security after blast on bridge linking Russia with Crimea

The multiple strikes came a few hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a meeting with his security council, as Moscow’s war in Ukraine approaches its eight-month milestone and the Kremlin reels from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas it is trying to annex amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks.

A day earlier, Putin had called the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services. In a meeting on Sunday with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Putin said there is no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure.

(With inputs from agencies)