“Remove leadership” – Medvedev threatens Kiev with new missile strikes

Russia fired more than 80 rockets at Kiev and other cities in Ukraine on Monday. At least 11 people were killed and at least 64 injured in the attacks across the country, according to Ukrainian civil defense officials. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said five people were killed and 52 injured in Kiev alone. Many people were on their way to work.

Putin threatens tougher measures
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin called the attack a response to “terrorist attacks” on Russian soil. The targets of the precision weapons were energy infrastructure, military installations and the telecommunications system, Putin said at a meeting of the National Security Council and threatened even tougher measures. “No one should doubt that.”

Bombs on Kiev
Mayor Klitschko said the bullets hit the center of Kiev. There was an air raid siren in almost all parts of the country. The power and water supply went out in some places. In total, Russia fired 83 missiles, 43 of which were intercepted, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

Putin ordered the missile strikes after an explosion on Saturday rattled the 12-mile (19-kilometer) bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. Russia blames the Ukrainian secret service SBU for the explosion.

Putin is now attempting missile terror
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba strongly rejected this. “No, Putin was not ‘provoked’ by the Crimean Bridge to missile terrorism,” he tweeted. “Russia kept hitting Ukraine with missiles in front of the bridge. Desperate for defeats on the battlefield, Putin is trying to use missile terror to change the pace of the war in his favor.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) telephoned President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the attack and assured the solidarity of Germany and the other G7 countries. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the G7 states wanted to meet with Zelenskyy in a video conference on Tuesday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the attacks on civilian targets and promised to continue to support Ukraine.

“Attacks are war crimes”
“The best response to the Russian missile terror is to provide Ukraine with anti-aircraft and missile defense systems,” said Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. Russia considers missile strikes an effective means of intimidation. They are not. “They are war crimes.”

The government of the Republic of Moldova accused Russia of violating Moldovan airspace in the missile strikes. In Belarus, ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced the formation of a regional military unit of the country’s armed forces with the Russian army. He had agreed with Putin, Lukashenko said Monday, according to the state agency Belta.

“Putin’s Russia shows what it stands for: brutality and terror”
Internationally, the Russian missile attacks were sharply criticized. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called this unacceptable. “This is a demonstration of Putin’s weakness, not strength,” Cleverly wrote on Twitter. “This is not retaliation, this is terrorism,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola stressed on Monday that the events showed the world once again what kind of leadership Moscow was dealing with. This is raining terror and death on children. “This is criminal,” Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, wrote on Twitter: “Putin’s Russia has once again shown the world what it stands for: brutality and terror.” A spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS) ruled the attacks to be war crimes. China called for de-escalation. “We hope the situation will de-escalate soon,” said Beijing Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

Criticism also came from Austria. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) tweeted that Putin continues the spiral of escalation. In this “extremely dangerous situation” it is “important to take steps towards de-escalation”. “Even if it seems hopeless at the moment, the goal should be to get back to the negotiating table.” Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) previously wrote on Twitter: “Russian shelling on civilian infrastructure in Kiev and other cities in Ukraine is appalling and cowardly. These attacks must stop immediately.” The Kremlin immediately rejected this: Austria has “barely any right” to demand that Russia stop missile fire at Ukraine, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) announced it would suspend its relief efforts until further notice. One cannot help endangered people “when our helpers are hiding from a shower of bombs and are afraid of repeated attacks,” said NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland.