A series of loud explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, early Monday morning, a day after Moscow blamed Ukraine for a deadly blast on the bridge linking Crimea to Russia.
The explosions hit Kyiv around 8:15 am local time (05:15 GMT) and according to an AFP journalist in the city, numerous ambulances were seen heading towards the scene of the blasts.
The Kyiv Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, who confirmed the attack via his social media page said; “Several explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district – in the centre of the capital.”
Videos and pictures posted on social media showed burning cars and bodies in the streets, as officials noted that the rockets had hit close to a well-known memorial to a famous statesman, a park, as well as a pedestrian bridge with the main target appearing to be civilians.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also confirmed that the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia in central Ukraine were also hit.
It was reported that explosions were also confirmed in the far-Western City of Lviv.
Zelenskyy, who spoke while the attacks were ongoing said; “Russia is trying to wipe us off the face of the earth”.
Russia, though, gave no immediate justification for the strikes, but many believe this was a retaliatory move after a deadly explosion crippled the Kerch Bridge connecting mainland Russia to Crimea at the weekend.
Putin while reacting to the Crimea bridge explosion blamed Ukraine and described it as ‘terrorists act’.
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