KYIV (Dispatches) -- Russia launched its most widespread airstrikes since the start of the Ukraine war on Monday, raining cruise missiles on cities and knocking out power and heat, in what President Vladimir Putin called revenge for a blown up bridge.
Explosions were reported in Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in western Ukraine, Dnipro and Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the south and Kharkiv in the east. Ukrainian officials said at least 10 people were killed and scores injured, and swathes of the country left without power.
Thousands of residents raced to bomb shelters as air raid sirens rang out through the day. The barrage of dozens of cruise missiles fired from air, land and sea was the biggest wave of airstrikes to hit locations away from the front line, at least since the initial volleys on the war’s first day, Feb. 24.
“The Kyiv regime, with its actions, has put itself on the same level as international terrorist organizations. With the most odious groups. To leave such acts without a response is simply impossible,” Putin said in a televised address.
The Russian leader said he had ordered “massive” long range strikes and he threatened more strikes in future if Ukraine hits Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were deliberately timed to kill people, as well as to knock out Ukraine’s power grid. His prime minister said 11 major infrastructure targets were hit in eight regions, leaving swaths of the country with no electricity, water or heat.
“They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth,” Zelensky said.
The barrage came two days after a blast damaged Europe’s longest bridge, which Russia had built after the Crimea peninsula joined it in 2014. Ukraine, which views the bridge as a military target sustaining Russia’s war effort, celebrated the blast without officially claiming responsibility.
Germany said a building housing its consulate in Kyiv had been hit in Monday’s strike, though it had not been used since the war started on Feb. 24.
By mid-morning, Ukraine’s defense ministry said Russia had fired 81 cruise missiles, and Ukraine’s air defenses had shot down 43 of them. Russia’s defense ministry said it had hit all its intended targets.
Zelensky said he will address an emergency meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Zelensky tweeted that he had an urgent call with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss “air defense, the need for a tough European and international reaction, as well as increased pressure on the Russian Federation.”
Several European countries, including Germany, Britain, Belgium and France, pledge more military aid to Ukraine, signaling a further escalation of the conflict.