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Just days after a bridge linking Russia and the Crimean Peninsula exploded — reportedly killing four and collapsing a primary Russian supply route — Vladimir Putin has retaliated with a new wave of missile attacks on Ukraine.
On Monday, Russia launched a number of missiles into Ukraine, reportedly knocking out power in wide swaths of the country and killing an untold number of civilians.
Speaking in a recorded video, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russians “want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are incorrigible.”
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Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to remain in shelters throughout the attacks, which he said are targeting people as well as energy facilities.
“And always remember: Ukraine existed before this enemy appeared, and Ukraine will exist after it,” Zelenskyy added.
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NBC News reports that missiles “tore through rush-hour traffic and into energy facilities” during the barrage, as Putin said in a televised news conference that the “massive strike” was aimed on Ukraine’s “energy, military command and communications facilities.” Putin added that the attack was in direct response to the bridge blast, which he deemed a “terrorist” attack.
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On Sunday, the bridge linking Russia and the Crimean Peninsula was the center of an explosion on Saturday when a truck blew up and collapsed a section of it. The bridge sits over the Kerch Strait, which is a supply route for Moscow’s forces in Ukraine and is part of the port of Sevastopol, the location of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
The attack, for which Ukraine officials have not officially claimed responsibility, occurred two days after Putin’s 70th birthday.
“There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure,” Putin said on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel alongside Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, per Reuters. “This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services.”
The sudden escalation of attacks by Russia on Monday come after the country has suffered a series of military setbacks in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, including low morale and a reported tens of thousands of casualties among its armed forces.
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Just last month, Putin called for a partial mobilization of Russian citizens amid the ongoing invasion, saying in a speech: “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It’s not a bluff,” per a Reuters report.
BBC News reporter Paul Adams described Monday’s blasts as something of a déjà vu moment for Ukrainians, who first became subject to Russian attack in late February.
“But this is also different,” Adams wrote. “The explosions here in Kyiv are much closer to the centre. Not distant thumps from the suburbs, but loud reverberations close to streets and locations we’ve come to know well in the past eight months.”
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Despite the considerable setbacks, U.S. officials have warned that Putin could be volatile enough to launch more attacks, and that his threats of using nuclear weapons should not be taken lightly.
Just last week, President Joe Biden issued a warning about Putin, saying the world has “not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
“First time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of a] nuclear weapon if in fact, things continue down the path they are going,” Biden said at a New York City fundraiser. “I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp?”
The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE’s complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.
