A series of blasts rocked central Kyiv Monday morning, shattering months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital a day after Russia’s leader blamed Ukraine for an explosion on a key Crimea bridge.
Kyiv mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, said in a statement on Telegram that there were “several explosions in the Shevchenkiv district – in the center of the capital.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The explosions were heard following the sound of incoming missiles, the Associated Press reported.
The AFP news agency said there were at least three blasts and the explosions took place around 8:15 a.m. local time, peak commuter time.
Air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital for more than an hour before the blasts.
Kyiv was reportedly targeted by Russian strikes this morning, multiple explosions were seen. pic.twitter.com/BC3VCWgiIJ
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 10, 2022
Videos posted on social media showed black smoke rising above several areas in the city.
A reporter for the BBC was live on air at the time of the apparent strike.
Hugo Bachega of @BBCWorld indeed, live, in Kiev as ominous noises thunder out of the sky pic.twitter.com/qkIlGpJ2Nh
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 10, 2022
The attack on the Ukrainian capital came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack that damaged the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea “a terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.
The Kerch Bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value to Russia in its faltering war in Ukraine, was hit Saturday by what Moscow has said was a truck bomb. Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging a vital supply route for the Kremlin’s forces.
“There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a meeting with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. “And the authors, perpetrators, and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine.”
Bastrykin said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the attack. He said a criminal investigation had been launched into an act of terror.
“We have already established the route of the truck,” he said, saying it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia.
In Kyiv, presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak called Putin’s accusation “too cynical even for Russia.”