A day after Moscow blamed Ukraine for a fatal explosion on the bridge connecting Crimea and Russia, a series of loud explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, early Monday morning.
An AFP journalist who was in the city at the time of the explosions observed a number of ambulances appearing to head toward the blast scene. The blasts occurred in Kyiv around 8:15 a.m. local time (05:15 GMT).
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, made the following statement via social media: “Several explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district – in the center of the capital.”
Black smoke could be seen rising above several parts of the city in social media videos.
The last time Russia attacked Kyiv was on June 26.
A day earlier, Moscow blamed Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge connecting Crimea and Russia that killed three people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Saturday’s Crimea bridge bombing as a “terrorist act” and stated, “The authors, perpetrators, and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services.”
Russian media reported that Putin was addressing the head of the investigation committee he had established to investigate the bombing.
The Kremlin informed local media outlets that the Russian leader is preparing for a meeting with his Security Council later on Monday.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, stated, “The president has a planned meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
Ukrainians and others on social media celebrated the explosion that struck the bridge.
However, officials in Kyiv have not directly claimed responsibility for the incident, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not make any mention of it in his address to the nation on Saturday night.
A symbol of the Kremlin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia announced on Saturday that some road and rail traffic had resumed over the strategic link.
Russia and the Crimean peninsula that it has annexed are connected by a bridge that spans 19 kilometers (12 miles).
Related News According to some military analysts, the blast could have a significant impact if Moscow sees the need to move troops from other regions, which are already under pressure, to Crimea, or if it causes residents to rush out.
Even if Kyiv was not responsible for the explosion, it still constituted “a massive influence operation win for Ukraine,” according to Mick Ryan, a retired senior officer from Australia who is now employed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
He commented on Twitter, “It is a demonstration to Russians and the rest of the world that Russia’s military cannot protect any of the provinces it recently annexed.”
– “Merciless strikes”: Zelensky criticized the Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, which killed at least 13 people, including a child. This was the latest deadly bombardment of the city in southern Ukraine.
A statement from the president’s office said that 89 people, including 11 children, were injured in the attack.
The “merciless strikes on peaceful people” and residential buildings, according to Zelensky, were “absolute evil” carried out by “savages and terrorists.”
Oleksandr Starukh, a regional official, shared images of severely damaged apartment buildings on Telegram and stated that a rescue operation had been launched to locate victims beneath the rubble.
On the other hand, on Sunday, Russian officials condemned what they claimed to be an increase in Ukrainian fire on its territory, which had struck homes, administrative structures, and a monastery.
On Sunday, the FBS of Russia, which is in charge of border security, stated:The number of Ukrainian armed formations attacking Russia’s border territory has significantly increased since the beginning of October.
According to the statement, housing and administrative structures had been hit by more than one hundred artillery attacks, most of which were directed at the western border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk.
One person had been killed and five had been injured in the attacks.

AFP