Top officials in the United States, European Union and at the United Nations expressed shock and horror Monday over Russia’s coordinated missile strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine’s major cities, including its capital, Kyiv.
President Joe Biden said the attacks “once again demonstrate the utter brutality” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked” by the attacks, saying through a spokesman that they represented an escalation of the war.
The full number of casualties from the attacks is not yet clear, but Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said there were least 11 dead and 89 injured.
In addition to the human toll, the strikes damaged significant parts of the Ukrainian energy grid, prompting the nation’s energy ministry to announce it would halt exports of electricity to the European Union starting Tuesday.
“Today’s missile strikes, which hit the thermal generation and electrical substations, forced Ukraine to suspend electricity exports from Oct. 11, 2022 to stabilize its own energy system,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Russia’s missile strikes came just two days after a blast destroyed part of Russia’s Kerch Bridge, the only bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed he ordered the strikes on Ukrainian cities, which were carried out by long-range missiles, in response to the bridge attack, and vowed a “harsh response” to any acts threatening Russia.