After official warnings from Ukraine that Russia might launch a strike on Kyiv in response to the incident in Crimea, the capital was woken up Monday morning by the sound of explosions.
The mayor of the city, Vitaliy Klishko, said that an explosion had occurred in the center of Kyiv in the Shevchenkovsky district, adding that all emergency services were leaving for the place. This happened several hours after the city of Zaporozhye was again subjected to heavy nighttime bombing. (southeast of the country) at night.
It also comes after several warnings that Moscow might step up its strikes, especially after a painful blow it received last Saturday on the Crimean Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland to a peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
Many observers assume that Russian President Vladimir Putin will respond positively to this attack by stepping up his missile strikes on Ukrainian territory, especially after he formally accused Ukrainian intelligence of involvement.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, yesterday at a meeting with Putin stressed that “it was a terrorist act prepared by the Ukrainian special services,” noting that the goal was the destruction of a large and extremely important civilian infrastructure for Russia.
Notably, the Crimean Bridge, which was built at great expense and opened by Putin in 2018, is a logistical artery for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine and an important supply route for them, especially to the Kherson region and the seaside city of Sevastopol.
