Russian President Vladimir Putin said the missile attacks were a retaliation for the attack on the Crimean Bridge.
Putin stated that yesterday’s missile attacks were prepared in line with the proposal of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the plan of the Russian General Staff, and that it is foreseen to hit Ukraine’s infrastructure facilities, military headquarters and communication lines with long-range missiles. Putin said that if Ukraine continues to carry out a “terrorist attack” on Russia, Russia will respond in proportion to the damage done to it. Dmitri Medvedev, the former prime minister of Russia and the current Deputy Chairman of the National Security Council of Russia, said that the administration in Ukraine poses a great danger to Russia, so one of the aims of the operation in Ukraine is to destroy the system in Ukraine.
“SHOULD BE A LESSON”
The Ukrainian administration, on the other hand, argues that Russia’s missile attack yesterday is a concrete example that shows that negotiations with Russia should not be made. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba argued that Russia’s missile attack should be a lesson to anyone who advocates negotiations with Russia. While Russia’s first missile attacks on Kiev targeted the central areas with administrative buildings, various thermal power plants and communication systems were targeted in the following hours. In parts of Kiev, power outages were seen for the first time since the beginning of the war. While the metro services were stopped for a while, the metro stations became shelters again. In Lviv, in the west of the country, electric public transportation vehicles such as trams and trolleybuses were left on the road due to the explosion of energy systems. Electric-powered intercity passenger trains were also stranded on the road. After the explosion, there are queues resembling the first times of the war in supermarkets, but the general public seems to be calmer than at the beginning of the war.
CONCERNS RISE
On the other hand, concerns began to rise that the war in Kiev would intensify again. An important reason for this is the increased possibility of Russia launching a new attack on Ukraine via Belarus, just like it did in February. As a matter of fact, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said in a statement after his meeting with the commanders yesterday, that the Russian troops will be deployed to Belarus again. Developments indicate that the war will intensify again in the coming weeks.