Russia Unleashes Wave of Missile Strikes on Ukrainian Cities as Revenge for Crimea Bridge Bombing

Russian forces launched missile strikes on at least 10 Ukrainian cities as revenge for Saturday’s bombing of the Kerch bridge linking Crimea and mainland Russia.

Summary

Russian forces launched missile strikes on at least 10 Ukrainian cities as revenge for Saturday’s bombing of the Kerch bridge linking Crimea and mainland Russia.

• At least 11 people were killed and 64 wounded in the hours-long wave of attacks targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
• Monday’s attacks were deliberately timed for morning rush hour to maximize civilian casualties and damage Ukraine’s power grid, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
• Zelensky said the attacks were designed to wipe Ukrainians “off the face of the earth.”
• The Crimea-Russia bridge is a key supply route for Russian forces and a prominent symbol of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s infrastructure ambitions. Saturday’s truck bomb attack came one day after Putin’s 70^th birthday.
• Putin called the bombing a “terrorist act” planned by Ukrainian leadership, while a Ukrainian official called his comments “too cynical even for Russia” and compared the bombing to the frequent Russian strikes on civilian areas.

• CNN reported that Russian-speaking hackers knocked multiple U.S. airport websites offline this morning, although airport operations were not affected.
• The Guardian called the missile strikes a sign of desperation on Putin’s part as he tries to appease his domestic critics and assuage his “wounded pride” after the Crimea bridge bombing.
• According to The New York Times, world leaders condemned the barrage. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply shocked” by the attacks and even China and India, typically friendlier to Russia than other major powers, urged de-escalation.

• The Wall Street Journal reported the missile barrage was one of the “broadest and most intense” of the war and targeted civilians and the electrical grid to sow “panic and chaos” among the Ukrainian population.
• Breitbart picked up reports that the visa office of the German consulate in Kyiv was struck by one of the Russian missiles.
• The Washington Examiner urged the Biden administration to rein in Ukraine’s more aggressive activities – like the car bombing that killed a prominent invasion advocate and the bombing of the Crimea-Russia bridge – to discourage Russian escalation.

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© Dominic Moore, 2022