Scores of people are feared dead in Ukraine today after Vladimir Putin vented his fury on civilian targets in revenge for an explosion at a key Russian bridge.
A lethal barrage of strikes rocked multiple Ukrainian cities throughout the day, in a return to the scenes of horror witnessed in an earlier phase of the war.
It is the first time the has come under sustained attack in months.
The Russian President admitted the attacks were in direct retaliation for what he called Ukraine’s ‘terrorist’ attack on the bridge, which is prized by the Kremlin for linking Russia with annexed Crimea.
The intense, hours-long attacks marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow and came a day after Mr Putin accused Ukrainian special services of masterminding Saturday’s explosion.
At least 14 people were killed and 24 were injured in just one of the Kyiv strikes, according to preliminary information from Rostyslav Smirnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs.
Putin, speaking in a video call with members of Russia’s Security Council, claimed the Russian military launched ‘precision weapons’ from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities.
But the sustained barrage on major cities hit residential areas as well as critical infrastructure facilities.
Air raid sirens sounded across every region of Ukraine, except Crimea, for four straight hours.
The onslaught comes amid a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive in recent weeks that has led to concerns that Putin could escalate the war and even use tactical nuclear weapons.
The Russian leader is this evening meeting with his security council, as the Kremlin reels from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas it annexed in sham referenda.
In the centre of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said blasts hit the Shevchenko district, a large area that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices,
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, with most of its blue-tinted windows blown out.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took a defiant selfie in the capital, while his people sang the national anthem while sheltering from the barrage.
But bloodied residents were also seen on the streets as casualties mounted.
Several cars were also damaged or completely destroyed, while the Kyiv underground stopped running as people took shelter in its stations.
Power, water and electricity supplies were knocked out in numerous areas.
Mr Zelensky said Russian forces 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 neutralised by air defences.
Mr Zelensky claimed in a video address that civilian areas and energy facilities were targeted in 10 cities.
‘(The Russians) chose such a time and such targets on purpose to inflict the most damage’, he said.
Associated Press journalists in Dnipro say they saw numerous bodies at an industrial site on the city’s outskirts, where glass was shattered across 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.
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The Kerch Bridge is important to Russia strategically, as a military supply line, and symbolically, as an emblem of its claims on Crimea and a Putin pet project.
No-one has claimed responsibility for damaging the 12-mile (19km) long bridge, the longest in Europe.
Amid the onslaught, Mr Zelensky posted on Telegram that Russia is ‘trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth’.
He wrote: ‘Please do not leave (bomb) shelters.
‘Let’s hold on and be strong.’
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