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Putin's wrath unleashed: 83 Russian missiles hit Ukrainian cities | Daily Mail Online
Vladimir Putin has vowed a 'severe' response to attacks on Russia after firing dozens of missiles at Ukraine this morning, blowing up power networks and killing civilians in retaliation for the Crimea Bridge blast at the weekend.
At least 83 rockets were fired, Ukraine's military said, with half shot down but half slamming into cities across the country. At least ten people were killed and 60 wounded, Ukraine said, with eight of those deaths and 24 injuries in Kyiv alone. Rockets also hit the German consulate, but the building was empty.
A mixture of missiles and Iranian-made suicide drones were used to strike the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, northern Kharkiv and Sumy, central Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia, and even far-western Ternopil and Lviv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Some of these cities have not been hit in months.
Putin said he ordered strikes on 'military, communications, and energy infrastructure' after what he called 'terrorist' attacks by Ukraine - pointing to the Crimea bridge attack but also accusing Kyiv of bombing one of its own nuclear plants, attacking gas pipes and assassinating officials and journalists. Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch ally of Putin, called today's attacks the 'first episode' of a wider response.
Putin said: 'Kyiv's regime, with its actions, places itself in line with international terrorist organisations. Leaving such crimes without response is impossible. In case of continuing attacks we will respond in harsh manner and in line with level of threats to Russian Federation. Nobody should have any doubt about this.'
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bridge attack and blames Russia for strikes on nuclear infrastructure and gas pipes. Zelensky said Monday's missile attacks had targeted power networks, water supplies, and civilians in an attempt to 'sow terror'.
'Russia is trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth,' he added, as adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the strikes showed 'the Kremlin's terrorist inadequacy' after a string of humiliating battlefield defeats.
Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister, said Ukraine's courage would never be broken and 'that the only thing they demolish is the future of [Russia] - a future of a globally despised rogue terrorist state.'
Videos and pictures from the Ukrainian capital showed burning cars and bodies in the streets as officials said rockets hit close to a well-known memorial to a famous statesman, near a children's play area in a park, and a pedestrian bridge. More footage showed an apartment block in Dnipro in flames.
Putin spoke at a meeting with his security cabinet today to plot further revenge. As the talks got underway, Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko announced that a 'joint military task force' with Russian troops would be deployed on his western border. Lukashenko has so far not committed any forces to the war.
Meanwhile hardliners within Russia demanded a declaration of full war and the use of nuclear weapons. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday ruled out the atomic option, but that will do little to dampen fears as Putin runs out of options having already annexed occupied territory and conscripted hundreds of thousands of troops.
Ukrainian social media networks were flooded with videos of defiance in the wake of the attacks, as people in bomb shelters and in the Kyiv subway network sung the national anthem and other patriotic songs even as bombs fell.
Summing up the mood, Ukraine's defence ministry tweeted: 'So, russkies, you really think you can compensate for your impotence on the battlefield with missile strikes on peaceful cities?
'You just don't get it do you - your terrorist strikes only make us stronger. We are coming after you.'
Widespread power outages were reported after the Russian salvo, with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal saying 11 'key infrastructure facilities' were hit without giving further details. Some cities were also reported to have water shortages.
Supporters of the Russian president had called on the despot to 'stop talking' and 'painfully beat' the Kyiv regime ahead of his Security Council meeting, despite the Kremlin playing down fears of a nuclear response.
Ukrainian civilians had been warned by the deputy governor of Russia's southern Stavropol region Valery Chernitsov to expect a critical response.
In a menacing video posted on Twitter, he said: 'Ukrainians, leave your cities, especially the large ones. Because a big surprise is waiting for you. Sarmat missiles are ready to strike.'
But it was Putin's former adviser Sergei Markov who urged his former chief to 'punish' Ukraine as well as its allies following the destruction of the Kerch bridge in Crimea, the Telegraph reports.
'It's time for Russia to stop talking and instead begin silently and painfully beating them,' he said, sparking fears over how Putin would react.
Zelensky hit back at his counterpart's claims of terrorism, highlighting Russian missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia which he says have killed at least 43 people this week alone.
In a video addressing the world, the Kyiv leader said: 'The constant terror against the civilian population is an obvious Russian refusal to engage in real negotiations.
'Terrorism is a crime that must be punished. Terrorism at the state level is one of the most heinous international crimes, which threatens not just someone in the world, but the entire international community.'
Putin looks to be thinking about changing the way his regime is run as he responds to the humiliating counter-offensive from Kyiv forces.
After he instantly replaced his top commander with the infamous Sergei Surokivin, there is speculation he could now sack defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff, despite them remaining by his side for the past decade.
It is a dangerous sign that Mr Surokivin has been called up to the Russian president's side, considering his brutal tactics in Syria as well as his history in firing at democracy protesters in the 90s.
Russian officials had predicted retaliation of the highest order after the bridge attack. Alexander Baskin, a Russian senator, confidently suggested that the Kremlin's response would be 'adequate, conscious and possibly asymmetric', the Mirror reported.
He added: 'This was a declaration of war without rules.'
A red-faced Putin yesterday blamed Ukrainian special forces for the explosion which severely damaged the key link to the Russian mainland.
The livid president said the blast at the Kerch bridge was designed to destroy 'critically important civilian infrastructure'. He declared that the attack was a terrorist incident.
Speaking before today's Russian attacks, Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army, said Putin could order the indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian cities and could even 'go nuclear'.
However, the Kremlin has played down fears from Western observers that it could use nuclear weapons, saying it is 'completely incorrect' that it was considering using them in response.
Russian governors threatened revenge missile attacks after the destruction of the bridge on Saturday morning, which was considered to be one of Putin's pet projects.
The bridge has been a symbol of Russian power in Crimea since its annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
The bridge, which spans 19km from Crimea to the Russian mainland, has been used as one of the main supply routes for Russian troops since the illegal invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, allowing Putin to resupply and back up forces occupying Kherson and other southern regions of Ukraine.
Its destruction in a huge blast in the early hours of Saturday morning was a huge blow to the Russian war effort and was a slap in the face for the Russian president.
In a video released on the Kremlin's Telegram channel yesterday, Putin blamed Ukrainian special forces while meeting with Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, who was presenting findings of an inquiry into the explosion and fire on the bridge.
The Russian president said: 'There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure. This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services.'
Mr Bastrykin said he had opened a criminal case into an act of terrorism and added that while Ukrainian soldiers had taken part, citizens of Russia and other countries were also involved.
He said investigations 'have already established the route of the truck' that Russian authorities said set off a bomb and explosion on the bridge.
Mr Bastrykin said the truck had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia, Krasnodar (a region in southern Russia) and other places.
Today Putin will chair the meeting with his Security Council (SCRF) as he looks to formulate a response to the latest setback in his ill-judged war.
The council, which is comprised of the nation's top defence officials and heads of security agencies, who come together to support the Russian president - the overall chair of the council - on policy decisions.
'Tomorrow the president has a planned meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
Embattled defence minister Sergei Shoigu will be in attendance alongside the head of Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service Aleksandr Bortnikov and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
SCRF meetings typically come as a reaction to important geopolitical events concerning national security, but can also indicate that Putin is on the cusp of making a major decision.
The Russian president chaired a meeting of the SCRF just days prior to the invasion of Ukraine, raising fears that Monday's meeting could signify a impending escalation in the conflict.
He will look for a strong response after the embarassing destruction of a bridge that Russian propoganda had claimed could not be destroyed as it was protected by 20 different kinds of security including military dolphins, war ships, aircraft and ground troops
The former head of the British Army, General Lord Richard Dannatt, warned that Putin could now opt for the Armageddon approach after the Kremlin previously insisted that an attack on Crimea would 'cross a red line'.
However, the country has once again denied this will happen, saying suggestions it could use nuclear weapons after designating the attack an act of terrorism 'completely incorrect'.
The 12 mile long bridge over the Kerch strait links Crimea to the Russian mainland and is a major artery for Putin's forces that control most of southern Ukraine's Kherson region and for the Russian naval port of Sevastopol.
It was damaged in an explosion early Saturday morning which saw chunks of the bridge fall into the sea and a large fire break out.
The incident prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials - though no claim of responsibility - and video footage of the bridge appeared to show a mysterious wave crest underneath the structure moments before the blast, prompting speculation that a Ukrainian-piloted boat or drone was likely behind it.
Russia meanwhile claimed a truck bomb had exploded, and has not apportioned blame for the damage.
The meeting of the security council today comes as top Putin propagandists and Russian regional governors called for total war in Ukraine in response to the bridge explosion.
Leading Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov demanded a brutal Stalinist response to 'plunge Ukraine into dark times' and round up all Russians against total war in the wake of the humiliating hit on the bridge.
Alluding to an enemy within, Solovyov called for a return of the notorious Stalin-era SMERSH counter-intelligence to crush all internal opposition to a full-scale war against Ukraine.
SMERSH, whose motto was 'Death to Spies', was a conglomeration of counterintelligence agencies used by Stalin to root out and obliterate those trying to subvert his regime during and after World War II.
Crimea's Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov declared there is a 'healthy desire to seek revenge' following the explosion which destroyed parts of the Kerch bridge yesterday morning and killed three people.
Rocket attacks have already rained down on the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia since the bridge explosion, killing 17 people late last night and early this morning.
Shocking footage circulated on social media by Ukrainian officials showed rescue workers pulling an elderly woman from the debris this morning after the attack reduced one high-rise residential building to rubble and damaged neighbouring structures.
An earlier clip saw rescue workers and forlorn residents picking their way over the mounds of twisted metal and smashed bricks as they searched for survivors and attempted to salvage what little remained from the devastation.
City council secretary Anatoly Kurtev said at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings were damaged in the blasts, in addition to the high-rise that was flattened.
Russia in recent weeks has repeatedly struck Zaporizhzhia, which is in the Ukrainian controlled-part of a region that Putin annexed in violation of international law last week.
On Thursday, at least 19 people died in Russian missile strikes on apartment buildings in the southern city, which lies just 80 miles from Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
'Again, Zaporizhzhia. Again, merciless attacks on civilians, targeting residential buildings, in the middle of the night,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post.
'Absolute meanness. Absolute evil. … From the one who gave this order, to everyone who carried out this order: they will answer. They must. Before the law and the people,' he added.
While Russia targeted Zaporizhzhia several times prior to Saturday's explosion on the Crimea bridge, last night's missile attack will likely be seen as a retributive action as it came just hours after the damage was dealt to the symbol of Russian power in the annexed peninsula.
Putin's 'miracle' bridge in flames: As a huge explosion blows apart vital link between Russia and seized region of Crimea, Ukraine celebrates... by issuing commemorative postage stamps, writes IAN BIRRELL in dispatch from Dnipro
By Ian Birrell for The Mail On Sunday
It is a picture that shows the stunning devastation caused to the only rail and road link between Russia and Crimea, after a huge blast left a fuel train in flames and caused the collapse of spans of the roadway below.
The massive fireball exploded on the 12-mile Kerch Bridge shortly after 6am yesterday, striking a hugely-symbolic blow against Vladimir Putin while prompting jubilation in Ukraine.
The Russian president ordered the bridge to be built in 2014 after his illegal annexation of Crimea – the first step in his assault on Ukrainian terrain. He declared it was a 'miracle' after driving a truck across to open the structure four years ago.
Now the bold attack demonstrates his inability to protect any part of the land he grabbed from Ukraine – and raises the stakes in this war as fears grow that the beleaguered Kremlin might respond to setbacks with a nuclear attack.
Russian media had boasted that the heavily defended bridge was impregnable. The rail line is a critical supply route for their military operations in Kherson region – although Moscow claimed last night that limited road and rail traffic would resume.
Yet the strike was another crushing humiliation for Putin. He demanded the building of the £2.7billion bridge, the longest in Europe, and saw it as his pet project.
Several Ukrainian media quoted sources claiming the attack on the loathed symbol of Russia's occupation of their land was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Russia blamed a lorry bomb and the footage showed a freight truck on the bridge before the blast.
A spokesman for the SBU declined to comment. But the organisation tweeted four lines paraphrasing a poem by Taras Shevchenko, the nation's most famous writer:
'It's dawn/ The bridge burns beautifully/ Nightingale in the Crimea/ Greet SBU.'
Ukraine's post office immediately issued a stamp to mark the bridge's destruction while the nation's second-largest bank offered a new debit card design featuring the collapsed bridge. Delighted Ukrainians noted the attack came the day after Putin's 70th birthday – including Oleksii Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's national security council.
He shared a video of the damaged bridge on social media next to Marilyn Monroe's famous rendition of 'Happy Birthday Mr President' to John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Even pro-government newspapers in Russia have previously admitted that Ukraine hitting the bridge would be 'a serious blow to Russia' – although they ruled out the possibility of any attack succeeding. The structure was protected by air defence, sophisticated sonar systems to detect underwater saboteurs and a special naval brigade of the national guard with machine guns and missile-launchers.
Yet according to Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee, a lorry was blown up on the road and then the fuel cisterns of a freight train caught fire on a parallel rail bridge. Three people in a car died in the explosion, their corpses found in the water.
Russian sources said firefighters struggled to put out the blaze due to strong winds and leaking fuel, resulting in damage to an estimated 1.3 kilometres of railway track. Putin has set up a government body to investigate the explosion and to oversee repairs while Sergei Aksyonov, his stooge head of Crimea, urged residents not to panic.
He insisted the peninsula has adequate stocks of food and fuel amid signs of panic-buying. Moscow's transport ministry said in a statement their 'experts' expected rail crossings to resume quickly following 'a primary assessment of the state of the infrastructure of the railway part of the Crimean bridge'.
The rail line is a vital supply route for the Kremlin's operations in Kherson region, where they have been pushed back at least 12 miles this month. It became even more crucial following the loss of rail hubs in eastern Ukraine last month.
'If the Kerch bridge railway lines are put out of commission for a significant period, it could be game over for Russian forces in Kherson,' said Phillips O'Brien, an expert on military logistics and professor of strategic studies at St Andrews University.
Moscow's armed forces have been pushed back on battlefronts in the north-east and south with heavy losses forcing Putin into mass mobilisation, sparking an exodus of potential recruits and mounting domestic criticism from hardline Kremlin allies.
Ukraine's President Zelensky said on Friday that his forces last week recaptured a further 800 square kilometres in the east, which follows last month's dramatic breakthrough in Kharkiv region.
The Ukrainian president does not hide his determination to drive Moscow's forces off all of their land, stating recently that 'This Russian war… began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – with its liberation.'
