Putin’s revenge targets civilians
Putin’s revenge targets civilians as bombs rain down on Kyiv, Lviv, and other Ukrainian cities in retaliation for the Kerch Bridge explosion. A missile barrage hit the cities of Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipro, and Odessa on the morning of October 10.
Drone bombings targeted civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and children’s playgrounds during the busiest hours of the day, forcing people to seek shelter in bunkers and metro stations. The air raid warning lasted over five hours across the country, and according to Ukraine Pravda, at least ten people were killed and sixty were injured.
This was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to the explosion two days earlier of the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to Russia. In a televised speech last night, the Russian president pointed the finger of blame at Ukraine’s secret intelligence services and accused Kyiv of a terrorist attack aimed at destroying important Russian infrastructure.
The president then appointed General Sergey Surovikin as the new commander of military operations in Ukraine. Surovikin, known as the ‘Butcher of Aleppo,’ led Russia’s military campaign in Syria in 2017 in support of Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that today’s attacks on Ukraine are just the first part of revenge and called for the complete dismantling of Ukraine’s political power. After a Moscow Security Council meeting, he wrote on Telegram, ‘The first strike has been carried out. More attacks are on the way.’
Why Kerch is crucial
The Kerch Bridge, built after the military occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014 and inaugurated by Putin in 2018, is a strategic infrastructure for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. This 15-kilometer-long bridge is the only land route connecting Crimea to Russian territory, through which supplies and troops are sent to the southern front.
This bridge, a symbolic work of Putin’s regime, which the president referred to as an engineering miracle, played a crucial role in Russia’s rapid advance in southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion. According to Moscow, following this explosion, which no one has yet confirmed was caused by a bomb-laden truck coming from Russia, a road collapsed, and part of the railway was partially damaged.
The Russians are trying to downplay the explosion and its resulting damage, emphasizing that traffic on one of the two roads has been restored. However, this explosion, which killed three people, is more of a blow to Moscow’s prestige, especially considering its timing, the day after Putin’s 70th birthday and at a time when Ukrainian advances are causing serious problems for Russian invaders.
Escalation of conflicts
In Kherson, the capital of one of the southern regions annexed to Russia through ridiculous referendums, Ukrainian forces continue their advance. Russia failed to stabilize the front line, and for weeks, many criticisms against military leaders responsible for the defeat have leaked on social media, and now there are also criticisms against Putin and the Kremlin’s inability to face battlefield defeats.
According to observations by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, unprecedented criticisms from Russian military bloggers and nationalists, who continue to fully support Putin’s goals in Ukraine, are being directed at Russian military commanders or the Ministry of Defense for the failures.
Alexander Lukashenko
Recently, Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, announced his readiness to assist the Kremlin leader and reported the establishment of a joint military command with Moscow, a decision taken after warnings to Minsk officials about a possible Kyiv attack against Belarus.
This claim quickly prompted a reaction from the European Union, with Peter Stano, the EU’s foreign action spokesperson, calling the accusations of a potential Ukrainian attack on Minsk false and baseless and urging Belarus to refrain from any involvement.
China calls for dialogue
Recent events prompted China to react, calling for an immediate de-escalation. Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that Beijing consistently supports respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and legitimate security concerns that should be taken seriously. He added that he hopes the situation will calm down soon and that all parties will resolve their differences through dialogue.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson also announced that New Delhi supports any efforts to de-escalate tensions. Additionally, Moscow mentioned the possibility of talks with the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, announced that a meeting and dialogue with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan might take place in Astana.
Peskov, according to RIA Novosti, did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Astana, following Ankara’s proposal for negotiations between Moscow and the West regarding Ukraine. This would be the fourth meeting between the two presidents in four months. Erdoğan said about the possibility of meeting with Zelensky that Turkey talks to all parties and that a fair peace has no losers. He added that even the worst peace is better than war.
Nuclear attack
After the attack on the Kerch Bridge, those who believed that a nuclear escalation by Russia was possible spoke of the worst-case scenario and were afraid. However, with the October 10 attack, the Kremlin showed that it could harm Ukraine even without using nuclear weapons. The attack on civilian targets and cities, especially Kyiv, which had been relatively safe from attacks until now, proves this. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the possibility of a nuclear strike in the future should be dismissed.
Putin’s emphasis on Kyiv’s nuclear terrorism in his recent speech at the Security Council is particularly concerning. Kyiv is accused of attacking the Kursk nuclear power plants, in addition to Zaporizhzhia, on three occasions. Such attacks fall under the classification of threats to vital security interests, which according to Russia’s 2020 doctrine, justify the use of nuclear weapons.
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