Update with Putin’s reaction: Monday morning’s series of missile strikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure was a response to Kiev’s long record of terrorist actions, including but not limited to Saturday’s attack on the Crimean Bridge, Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated.
“It is obvious that Ukraine’s special services were the masterminds, organizers and perpetrators of the terror attack [on the bridge]. The Kiev regime has been using terrorist methods for a long time,” Putin said, speaking at a meeting of the Russian Security Council.
“A number of terrorist attacks and attempts at similar crimes have been committed against the electrical power facilities and gas transportation infrastructure of our country, including attempts to detonate a section of the TurkStream gas transmission system. All of this has been proven by objective data, including the testimony of the detained perpetrators of these terrorist attacks themselves,” Putin said.
The president also recalled attempts by Ukraine’s security services to target Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on three separate occasions, with the third attack damaging three high-voltage power lines going to the plant.
Kiev’s “terrorist methods” have also included the murders of public figures, journalists, and scientists, both in Russia and in Ukraine, plus the “terrorist attacks against the cities of the Donbass” over the past eight years, plus “acts of atomic terrorism” – in the form of artillery strikes against the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Putin said.
By its actions, Kiev “put itself on a par with the most odious terrorist groups,” and it was “simply impossible to leave such crimes unanswered,” according to Putin.
“This morning, on the initiative of the Ministry of Defense and according to a plan [formulated by] the Russian General Staff, massed strikes were carried out using high-precision, long-range air, sea and land-based weapons against energy, military command and communications facilities of Ukraine.
If attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against our territory continue, Russia’s responses will be tough and will correspond in scale to the level of threat posed to the Russian Federation,” Putin warned.
At the Security Council meeting, Putin also commented on the explosions targeting the Nord Stream pipelines, saying Russian representatives have not been allowed to investigate the suspected sabotage. “But we all know the ultimate beneficiary of this crime,” Putin said.
The Defense Ministry reported on Monday that all targets had been hit, and the goal of the strikes achieved.
“Today, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a massed strike using long-range precision weapons against the military command, communications and energy systems of Ukraine. The goal of the strikes was achieved. All designated targets were hit,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing.
Major cities across Ukraine
reported attacks against critical infrastructure on Monday morning, with Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepr, Odessa, Krivoy Rog, Zhitomir, Ternopol, Khmelnitsky, Konotop, Lvov, and other cities reporting explosions, often followed by the loss of electrical power. Local authorities have reported that at least eight people were killed and 24 injured in the strikes. Ukrainian media said the air alert had been canceled early in the afternoon Monday.
The Russian military launched Monday’s attack after Saturday’s terror attack on the Crimean Bridge, which killed three people, caused part of the bridge’s road section to collapse into the sea, and ignited oil tankers on the adjacent rail section. Light vehicle and train traffic via the undamaged rail portion and the surviving section of the roadway section has since resumed.
Ukrainian officials openly boasted of Kiev’s responsibility for the bridge attack. “Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm,” President Volodymyr Zelensky
said in an address Saturday night.
UPDATE ON THE STAGGERING ARRAY OF X-101 CRUISE MISSILES CURRENTLY VISITING COUNTRY 404’S INFRASTRUCTURE
47 – Nikolaev region
60 – in Kiev
15 – in L’vov
27 – in the Vinnitsa region
20 – in Kharkov
15 – in Odessa region
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Update: Medvedev Says Russia Will Conduct More Attacks Against Ukraine
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that Ukraine will face more attacks after massive missile strikes on Kiev and other cities on Monday morning.
“The first episode is over. There will be others… I will express my personal position… The Ukrainian state in its current configuration with the Nazi political regime will pose a constant, direct and clear threat to Russia. Therefore, in addition to protecting our people and protecting the country’s borders, the goal of our future actions … should be a complete dismantling of the political regime of Ukraine,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.
***
The goal of a massive precision-guided strike on Ukraine has been achieved, all designated objects were hit, the Russian defense ministry said on Monday.
“Today, the Russian armed forces inflicted a massive strike with long-range precision weapons on the objects of the military command and control systems, communications and energy of Ukraine. The purpose of the strike was achieved. All designated objects were hit,” the ministry said.
***
Multiple missile strikes targeted the Ukrainian cities all across the country on Monday morning, according to local officials and media, which attributed the attacks to Russia. This comes two days after a bomb damaged the strategic Crimean Bridge – which Moscow called a Ukrainian terrorist attack.
Local officials in Lviv, Kharkov, and Odessa also reported that their cities came under fire.
The office of Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, reported they had detected at least 75 missiles.
In Kiev, damage from the strikes was reported near the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which is located in the government area of the capital. City officials halted operations of the metro system, and the stations are now being used as shelters for civilians.
The head of L’vov Region, Maksim Kozitsky, reported that elements of the western province’s energy infrastructure came under attack.
Boris Filatov, the mayor of Dnepr, a major city in central Ukraine, confirmed the strikes and said he could only feel “hatred and the wish to fight,” while urging residents to take shelter.
The southern Nikolaev Region which borders Russia’s Kherson Region, reported dozens of projectiles and a number of kamikaze drones coming from Russian troops, targeting “critical infrastructure” throughout the country RT reports.
“As of 11:00 am, 11 crucial infrastructure facilities were damaged in eight regions and in Kiev. Some of the regions are currently without power. We need to brace for temporary disruptions in electricity and water supplies and communication services,” he wrote on Telegram.
KIEV, October 10. /TASS/. Eyewitnesses said three new blasts have rocked Kiev, bringing the total number of explosions in Ukraine’s capital to ten since Monday morning.
Smoke was spotted near a thermal power station next to Vydubichi metro station. According to eyewitnesses, since 8:20 a.m. some ten blasts have been heard.
Earlier reports said the explosions hit the central Pechora district, Vladimirskaya street in the Shevchenkovsky district and Vozdukhoflotsky avenue.
Eyewitnesses report new blasts in central Kiev near Security Service building. The headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service is located on Vladimirskaya street.
KIEV, October 10. /TASS/. Electricity and water supply was disrupted in all the districts of Kharkov.
“Now the city of Kharkov has been completely cut off power. There is no electricity and water supply,” the city mayor said in a live broadcast on the Rada television channel.
An air raid alert was issued across Ukraine earlier on Monday. Ukrainian media outlets reported explosions and problems with power supply in Kharkov.
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