Missiles hit downtown Kyiv in first strikes in months

Ukraine felt the full force of Vladimir Putin’s wrath on Monday as Russian military rained down missiles on key targets across Kyiv.

In a blistering strike, explosions rocked energy infrastructure in the capital city - and also claimed civilians’ lives.

Blasts were felt across the city, with buildings and cars left burning following the attack, which has so far claimed the lives of eight people and injured 24 others.

The series of explosions are likely a revenge attack for the partial destruction of a key bridge in the Russian-annexed state of Crimea over the weekend. Ukraine has been blamed for that attack, which is likely to have enraged Putin.

And in an eerily similar blast on Monday, a bridge in Ukraine was blown up as part of the attack.
 

The Klitschko bridge, which opened in 2019 and is popular with walkers and cyclists, was seen engulfed in a fireball as a missile struck at around 8am local time.

The 212-metre bridge is normally packed with pedestrians and street performers, with a motorway running underneath. It is not clear if anyone was killed or hurt in the explosion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was targeting energy infrastructure - and civilians.

“They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are hopeless,” he said.

“Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible.”
 

Loud blasts were heard in the centre of Kyiv early on Monday and graphic videos show missiles exploding metres away from civilians.

The explosions took place around 8am local time, with air raid sirens sounding in the Ukrainian capital more than an hour before the blasts.

Videos posted on social media showed black smoke rising above several areas in the city.

There were also explosions reported in Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr.
 

Ukraine felt the full force of Vladimir Putin’s wrath on Monday as Russian military rained down missiles on key targets across Kyiv.

In a blistering strike, explosions rocked energy infrastructure in the capital city - and also claimed civilians’ lives.

Blasts were felt across the city, with buildings and cars left burning following the attack, which has so far claimed the lives of eight people and injured 24 others.

The series of explosions are likely a revenge attack for the partial destruction of a key bridge in the Russian-annexed state of Crimea over the weekend. Ukraine has been blamed for that attack, which is likely to have enraged Putin.

And in an eerily similar blast on Monday, a bridge in Ukraine was blown up as part of the attack.

The Klitschko bridge, which opened in 2019 and is popular with walkers and cyclists, was seen engulfed in a fireball as a missile struck at around 8am local time.

The 212-metre bridge is normally packed with pedestrians and street performers, with a motorway running underneath. It is not clear if anyone was killed or hurt in the explosion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was targeting energy infrastructure - and civilians.

“They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are hopeless,” he said.

“Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible.”
 

Loud blasts were heard in the centre of Kyiv early on Monday and graphic videos show missiles exploding metres away from civilians.

The explosions took place around 8am local time, with air raid sirens sounding in the Ukrainian capital more than an hour before the blasts.

Videos posted on social media showed black smoke rising above several areas in the city.

There were also explosions reported in Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr.
 

The strikes are a worrying escalation from Russia’s military, which has not targeted the city since June 26. Ukraine’s presidency confirmed there were strikes on “many” cities in Ukraine and not just the capital.

Shocking video captured from a girl’s smartphone showed the moment one of the missiles landed, narrowly missing her as she walked down the street.

The woman, just metres from death, was lit up by the flash from the blast and exclaimed as she rushed away.

“A girl was recording herself as she walked through what looks like Shevchenko Park in Kyiv this morning. She was almost killed by a Russian rocket,” Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Luxmoore tweeted.

A Russian missile hit in 50 meters from the girl.#NaziRussia #RussiaIsATerroristState #Russia404 #RussianWarCrimesInUkraine pic.twitter.com/llJRoa0lxp

— ??? ???? ???????? (@TheDeadDistrict) October 10, 2022

Shevchenko Park in central Kyiv now. Probably the city’s busiest park, usually packed with people and street musicians pic.twitter.com/9kIS4rBiKq

— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) October 10, 2022

“Several missile strikes in the center of Kyiv. Burning cars with people who were commuting to work. The strike was deliberately carried out during rush hour on a busy street to inflict maximum losses and intimidate. A pure act of terrorism,” security expert Maria Adeeva said.

Analysts say Putin has timed the strikes to “maximise civilian causalities”.

“(This is) the biggest series of salvoes since the war began. Putin’s rage is unlikely to significantly weaken Ukraine’s military ability, but it will increase Ukrainians’ motivation to fight,” foreign affairs expert Yaroslav Trofimov tweeted.

More footage emerged later on Monday, with one video showing a man walking along Kyiv’s Bridge of Glass and narrowly missing a blast just off screen.

Another blast was filmed near what appears to be Kyiv’s main railway station.

and whoever this guy is, he's incredibly lucky. pic.twitter.com/6DJXTBBsld

— ste (@5te1997) October 10, 2022

Kyiv. Looks like the railway station area. pic.twitter.com/r2k2f0AfHF

— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) October 10, 2022

“Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information about strikes in many cities of our country,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on social media, calling on the population to “stay in shelters”.

The explosions took place a day after Putin blamed Ukrainian secret services for a deadly blast on the bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to Russia.

“The authors, perpetrators and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said of Saturday’s Crimea bridge bombing, which he described as a “terrorist act”.

Putin was speaking during a meeting with the head of the investigation committee he has set up to look into the bombing, Russian news agencies reported.

The Russian leader is gearing up for a meeting with his Security Council later Monday, the Kremlin told local news agencies.

“Tomorrow the president has a planned meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The blast that hit the bridge sparked celebrations from Ukrainians and others on social media.

Zelensky, in his nightly address on Saturday, did not directly mention the incident.

Officials in Kyiv have made no direct claim of responsibility.

Some military analysts argue that the blast could have a major impact if Moscow sees the need to shift already hard-pressed troops to Crimea from other regions.