(RoyalPatriot.com )- Last Saturday, an explosion damaged the Kerch Bridge that connects Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea which Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine.
While Ukraine publicly denied any responsibility for the blast, believed to have been caused by a truck explosion, Ukrainian officials did celebrate the explosion with snarky one-liner remarks on Twitter.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, called the explosion “a terrorist act” of “sabotage” committed by the “criminal” regime in Kyiv. He said Russia must respond by “killing terrorists.”
Russia’s State Duma condemned the attack calling it “a declaration of war without rules.”
In a video address on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin also described Saturday’s bomb blast as “an act of terrorism.”
The following day, Russia launched a series of missile strikes on several cities, including Kyiv in response to Saturday’s truck explosion.
At least 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones were used in Monday’s attack, killing at least 11 and injuring over 60.
In addition to Kyiv, explosions were reported in Lviv, Ternopil, and Zhytomyr in western Ukraine, the central Ukraine cities of Dnipro and Kremenchuk, as well as Zaporhizhzhia in the south, and Kharkiv in the east.
Many of the strikes hit during rush hour and left large swaths of the country without power.
In a single strike on Kyiv, at least 8 people were killed and another 24 injured.
During a live report from Kyiv on Monday, BBC reporter Hugo Bachega was forced to take cover as the missiles rained down on the capital:
Several large explosions hear in the Ukrainian capital #Kyiv within the past hour. BBC Correspondent @hugobachega forced to take cover during a live broadcast: #UkraineRussianWar pic.twitter.com/fP0OE38KEX
— Owen Clegg (@ojclegg) October 10, 2022
In a televised address later that day, Russian President Vladimir Putin gloated over Monday’s airstrikes, describing the attack as a just response to Ukraine’s “terrorist attacks” including Saturday’s bridge explosion. Putin said it was “simply impossible” to let Ukraine’s terrorist acts go without a response. He warned that more air strikes would follow if Ukraine attempted any retaliation against Russia.
