Russia Hammers Ukraine With Air Strikes After Bridge Explosion

Service members of pro-Russian troops drive tanks in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict near the settlement of Olenivka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Russia rained cruise missiles down on Ukrainian cities Monday following the destruction of a bridge spanning Ukraine and Crimea over the weekend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused Ukraine’s security services of perpetuating the attack on the bridge and said it would be met with a significant military response.

“If there are further attempts to conduct terrorist attacks on our soil, Russia will respond firmly and on a scale corresponding to the threats created against Russia,” Putin added, according to state-run media. There will be “massive strikes with long-range precision weapons on Ukrainian objects of energy, and military control and communications,” he said.

Putin then said that the Kyiv government “has put itself on par with international terrorist groups, the most odious of them” and “leaving such crimes without a response has become impossible.” He confirmed Russia attacked Ukrainian infrastructure on Monday.

A blast damaged the bridge it built after seizing Crimea in 2014. Ukraine, which views the bridge as a military target sustaining Russia’s war effort, celebrated the blast without officially claiming responsibility.

More volleys of missiles struck the capital again later in the morning. Pedestrians huddled for shelter at the entrance of Metro stations and inside parking garages, Reuters reported.

Workers restore the railway tracks on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, near Kerch, on Oct. 9, 2022, a day after it was damaged by a blast. AFP via Getty Images

By mid-morning, Ukraine’s defence ministry said Russia had fired 81 cruise missiles, and Ukraine’s air defences had shot down 43 of them. Russia’s defence ministry said it had hit all its intended targets.

US Responds

“These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Biden said in a statement Monday. “Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also claimed Russia was engaging in “horrific & indiscriminate attacks” against Ukraine.

Adding that he met with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter that the Kremlin is allegedly carrying out “unprovoked aggression against an independent sovereign nation.”

A view shows a fire on the Crimean Bridge, also called the Kerch bridge, at sunrise in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on Oct. 8, 2022. Stringer/Reuters

Ukrainian officials said at least 11 people were killed and scores injured, with swathes of the country left without power.

In another sign of possible escalation, Putin’s closest ally, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, said he had ordered troops to deploy jointly with Russian forces near Ukraine, which he accused of planning attacks on Belarus with its Western backers. He allowed Russia to use Belarus as a staging ground early in the war but has not sent in his troops.

Russia has faced several setbacks since the start of September, with Ukrainian forces bursting through the front lines and recapturing territory. Putin responded by ordering a mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists, proclaiming the annexation of occupied territory, and other officials have said Russia would use nuclear weapons.

Reuters contributed to this report.