VALENTYN OGIRENKO/Reuters
Missile blasts rocked Kyiv Monday morning in an apparent reprisal for the attack on a key bridge that connects Russia to occupied Crimea. The blasts which interrupted a crucial re-supply route for the Russian army in the south of Ukraine were a symbolic and logistical hammer blow to President Putin’s efforts to keep hold of illegally annexed Ukrainian territory.
Moscow labeled the bridge blasts a “terrorist” act, and vowed to strike back.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout the Ukrainian capital in the wake of the explosions which represent the most serious attack on the city since Russian tanks first rumbled over the Ukrainian border in February. Reports suggest at least four missiles hit the city—one of which landed near a children’s playground, in a chilling re-run of a strike on a separate Kyiv playground in June.