BREAKING: Several Ukrainian cities hit by blasts

Several explosions hit Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv along with the cities of Lviv, Ternopil and Dnipro on Monday. The explosions follow Russia’s accusation that Ukraine planned a powerful blast that damaged a key bridge which linked Russia to Crimea.

Putin said the attack on the bridge was an “act of terrorism.”

“There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure,” Putin said on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel. “This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services.”

Deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia should kill the “terrorists” responsible for the attack.

Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported that emergency services confirmed that there were fatalities and injuries, however they did not divulge any further details.

“Russia can only respond to this crime by directly killing terrorists, as is the custom elsewhere in the world. This is what Russian citizens expect,” Medvedev said.

Rostyslav Smirnov, who is an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs, did say that 8 were killed and another 24 were injured.

“Several explosions in the Shevchenskivskyi district – in the center of the capital,” Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram messaging app. “Details later.”

Lesia Vasylenko, who is a member of Ukraine’s parliament, posted a photo on Twitter which showed at an explosion took place close to the main building of Kyiv National University.

Previous Russian offenses on Kyiv were on the outskirts of the city, however these attacks targeted central Kyiv.