Putin "Airstrikes on Ukraine in Retaliation for Crimean Bridge Attack"

Retaliatory Attack Acknowledged... "Will Respond Harshly"
Used by Russian Hardliners to Rally... "They Want to Destroy Infrastructure"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the Russian military's missile strikes across Ukraine were retaliations for the earlier attack on the Crimean Bridge. He warned that if further attacks by Ukraine occur, even harsher retaliatory strikes would follow. Some interpret this move as an effort to rally hardliners within Russia who strongly support the Putin regime.

According to Russia's TASS news agency on the 10th (local time), President Putin stated at a Security Council meeting held at the Kremlin, "This morning, based on the Ministry of Defense's advice and the Chief of Staff's plan, we struck Ukraine's energy, communication facilities, and military command centers using high-precision long-range weapons," adding, "This attack was carried out as retaliation for the explosion on the Crimean Bridge."

He continued, "The explosion on the Crimean Bridge was a terrorist act orchestrated by Ukrainian special forces," emphasizing, "If such incidents continue on our territory, Russia's response will become even harsher." Earlier, the Russian military launched 84 missiles targeting 12 major cities, including Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, resulting in at least 14 deaths and 97 injuries.

The Ukrainian side denies any connection between this attack and the Crimean Bridge incident. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated, "Russia had been continuously launching missile attacks on Ukraine even before the Crimean Bridge incident," and claimed, "Putin is in a desperate situation due to battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to turn the tide in his favor."

Some analysts suggest that this attack is more politically aimed at consolidating support among Russia's hardliners and ultra-conservatives, who are key supporters of President Putin. Russian political commentator Sergey Markov told the British Guardian in an interview, "The main public opinion in Russia still desires large-scale attacks and the complete destruction of infrastructure that Ukrainian forces might use," pointing out that "the voices of critics are largely insignificant."

Senior researcher Andrey Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a U.S. think tank, evaluated, "From President Putin's perspective, addressing the dissatisfaction of hawks and ultra-conservatives is important, but above all, Putin himself is the most hawkish and ultra-conservative figure."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.