Vladimir Putin has described Russia’s massive airstrikes on Ukraine, its most extensive since the early weeks of his seven-month invasion, as retaliation for the bombing of the bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Speaking at a meeting of his security council on Monday, the Russian president accused Kyiv of a “terrorist attack” at the Kerch bridge, damaged by an explosion on Saturday, and said “leaving such a crime without a response is just impossible”.
The airstrikes mark further escalation after blaming Ukraine’s “secret services” for conducting the Kerch bridge attack. He spoke shortly after several missiles hit downtown Kyiv in the first attack on Ukraine’s capital since late June. Residents fled to bomb shelters as smoke rose over the city.
Putin said Russia’s military had used “long-range high-precision air, sea and land-based missiles” in the strikes and warned he was prepared to repeat them. He claimed the targets were military, energy and communications assets, although early footage and evidence of the damage showed that a playground and a bridge in central Kyiv were hit.
“If attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on our territory continue, Russia’s response will be severe and at the level of the threats facing it. Nobody should be in any doubt,” he added.
Missiles also struck Lviv, in western Ukraine; Dnipro, in the centre of the country; and several other cities, including Zaporizhzhia and Mykolayiv in the south, which are close to the frontline.
There were reports of explosions in the Black Sea port of Odesa, and air raid alerts went off in every part of Ukraine, other than occupied Crimea.
Three cruise missiles launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea had crossed Moldova’s airspace on Monday, Moldova’s foreign minister Nicu Popescu said on Monday, adding he had summoned Russia’s ambassador to Chișinău in response.
At least five people were killed in Kyiv, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister said on Telegram. Casualties are expected to rise, first responders warned, including at a major road junction near a university and residences of western ambassadors.
The EU has said Russia’s missile attacks on Ukrainian cities on Monday “amount to war crimes”.
Missiles or rockets struck the central intersection of Volodymyrska Street and Shevchenko Boulevard, at the north-west entrance of Shevchenko park, one of the busiest junctions in Kyiv during morning rush hour.
Images from Kyiv showed damage to a children’s playground in Shevchenko park and to a pedestrian bridge nicknamed the “Klitschko” bridge after the city’s mayor.
Photos and videos sent to the Financial Times by government officials showed first responders and ambulances at the scene.
Images on Telegram showed damage to a skyscraper near the main train station in Kyiv, housing the offices of DTEK, a large electricity producer owned by Rinat Akhmetov, one of Ukraine’s richest men.
It was not clear if anti-missile defences in Kyiv were activated. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote on Telegram that 75 Russian missiles had been fired on Monday morning, 41 of which Ukrainian air defences managed to shoot down.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a short video saying Russia had used missiles and suicide drones to target “critical infrastructure” and ordinary citizens. “They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are hopeless,” Zelenskyy said, as he stood outside his office in downtown Kyiv.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former stand-in president for Putin and deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said the “failed Ukrainian state” was behind the Kerch bridge attack.
“This is a terrorist attack and sabotage committed by the criminal Kyiv regime,” he said an interview on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. “Russia’s response to this crime must be directly destroying the terrorists. As is done in the world. That’s what Russian citizens are waiting for.”
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bridge attack, although officials posted several comments mocking Russia on social media and the Ukrainian post office has issued a commemorative stamp.
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels