For the first time in months, rockets fell in the capital Kyiv and in Lviv in western Ukraine, and many other cities were also shelled. At least 11 people were killed and 89 others injured in the attacks, according to Ukrainian police. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message that the attacks were primarily aimed at energy infrastructure.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia fired a total of 83 missiles. 52 of these missiles were intercepted by the Ukrainian air defenses. Zelenskyy said Russia also used Iranian-made drones in the attacks. According to the Ukrainian army, some of these drones were launched in neighboring Belarus and Crimea. Moldova accused Russia of violating its airspace.
Putin speaks of reaction to bridge explosion
Putin called the attack a response to “terrorist attacks” once morest Russian territory. On Saturday, an explosion shook the 19-kilometer bridge that connects Russia and Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Putin blamed the Ukrainian secret service SBU on Sunday. “If attempts of terrorist attacks on our territory continue, Russia’s response will be violent and proportionate to the level of threats,” Putin threatened.
Russia expert on missile attacks
Political scientist and Russia expert Gerhard Mangott analyzes the background to the numerous Russian rocket attacks on more than ten cities in Ukraine. He also assesses the extent to which Putin’s further threats should be taken seriously.
Zelenskyj: Ukraine will not be intimidated
Selenskyj, meanwhile, emphasized his country’s will to resist. “Ukraine will not be intimidated, it will only be more united,” he said in his evening video address in Kyiv on Monday. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, 14 people were killed and 97 injured in the attacks nationwide in the evening. The video was not, as is usual, recorded in Zelenskyj’s well-secured presidential office.
According to his own statements, the head of state was standing at a damaged crossroads near the university in the evening. Excavators, trucks and other clearing equipment might be seen in the background. Rockets had landed there in the morning. The President pointed out that there are only civilian targets in and around a park in front of the university – the university, a children’s playground, two museums – and no military facilities that Russia says it has hit.
“The occupiers can’t face us on the battlefield and that’s why they resort to this terror,” said Zelenskyy. In many cities, the municipal services are in the process of repairing the interrupted electricity and water supply. “It will take a few more hours.” He called on the population not to use high-consumption devices if possible. “The more Ukrainians save electricity, the more stable the network will be.”
Journalist on the attacks in Ukraine
Journalist Denis Trubetskoy speaks regarding the violent rocket attacks in Ukraine.
Belarus and Russia form joint intervention force
Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko meanwhile accused Ukraine of planning an attack on Belarus and therefore announced the formation of joint troops with Russia. “We have decided to set up a regional association of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” Lukashenko said on Monday, according to the Belarusian state news agency Belta, without giving any information regarding their location.
Lukashenko speaks of “unofficial channels”
He accused Ukraine of preparing an attack on Belarus, which is why this decision has now been made. Minsk had been warned through “unofficial channels” of “preparations for an attack from Ukrainian territory once morest Belarus”. Lukashenko did not explain where this alleged information should come from.
Ukraine wants to create “a second Crimean bridge,” he added, referring to the explosion and damage to the bridge to Russia’s annexed Crimea.
Lukashenko insults Zelenskyj
According to Belta, Lukashenko further said that he had sent Zelenskyj the message that he should “keep his dirty hands off every meter of Belarusian territory”. “If you want peace, prepare for war,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying from a meeting with representatives of the Belarusian security sector. But there should be no war on Belarusian territory.
Lukashenko later accused Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland of training Belarusian “radicals” to carry out terrorist attacks. He accused the US and the EU of providing shelter to refugees from Belarus in order to turn them into a “political force”.
Close ally of Putin
Belarus is a close ally of Russia. At the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine at the end of February, the neighboring country made its territory available for Russian troops to deploy. These then invaded Ukraine from the north. So far, however, Belarusian soldiers have not been deployed directly in the Ukraine war.
The Belarusian army has regarding 60,000 men. Already at the beginning of the war Lukashenko assembled several battalions, altogether thousands of soldiers, at the border. On Sunday, the Belarusian border guard accused Ukraine of provocations at the border.
