Russia's Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its forces will intensify strikes on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. The announcement marks Moscow's formal response to the latest phase of its own air campaign against the capital, and it came a day after Russia's Foreign Ministry warned foreign nationals and diplomats that they stay in Ukraine at their own risk.
The ministry said Russian forces would step up attacks on military facilities, defence industry sites and related infrastructure in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine. It described its recent strikes on Kyiv and other regions as a response to what it called attacks by Kyiv on civilian targets inside Russia. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians.
A fourth straight day of strikes on the capital
The threat was issued as the campaign it describes continued on the ground. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia hit a Kyiv bridge across the Dnipro River for a fourth day in a row on Sunday, attacked a pharmaceutical warehouse in the Sumy region with drones, killing one person, and hit a communications facility in Dnipro, injuring six people. Ukraine said Russia launched 135 attack drones overnight, more than 50 of them jet-powered.
Zelensky put the week's scale in stark terms. "It is important that Ukraine is not left alone against this terror," he said. "This week alone, the Russians have used more than 1,900 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 25 missiles against Ukraine. More than 800 of the drones were jet-powered, and Russia must be held accountable for this escalation." Russian attacks across Ukraine had already killed at least six people on Saturday, when Dnipro bridges in Kyiv were targeted for a third straight day, disrupting traffic and causing long jams. The intensifying campaign has seriously disrupted life for the capital's 3 million residents ahead of the bitter winter months.
The Sunday statement follows a Reuters interview, published on Saturday, in which Zelensky said Ukraine would step up attacks on Russian oil refineries and would not target civilians, in response to what he described as a Russian airstrike policy designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities. Moscow's answer, delivered within a day, was not a pause but a public commitment to hit the capital harder.
"We are staying"
Europe's representatives in Kyiv answered Moscow's other warning just as directly. On Saturday the Russian Foreign Ministry warned foreign nationals, including diplomatic staff, against staying in or travelling to Ukraine, saying responsibility for any consequences would rest with those who ignored it.
The European Union's ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, replied on Sunday: "Russia has a message for foreign diplomats in Kyiv: leave, or risk your lives. Our answer: We are staying. The EU Delegation is staying. Threatening us will not stop Europe's support for Ukraine. It only reminds us why that support matters!" Denmark's ambassador echoed the message, saying his mission was staying too.
For Kyiv's residents, the practical meaning of the weekend's statements is simpler than the diplomacy around them. Russia has now said publicly, through both its foreign and defence ministries, that strikes on the capital will continue and intensify, and that foreigners are present at their own risk. Ukraine's Western partners have said publicly that they will not be moved out by those threats. What happens next will be measured in the air over the Dnipro, where a fourth day of bridge strikes suggests Moscow has already begun acting on its warning.
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