President Biden said Monday that he “strongly condemns” the latest Russian bombing campaign against Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities in revenge for the weekend attack on Russia’s bridge to Crimea.
Moscow’s military launched at least 81 cruise missiles into Ukrainian cities, according to Kyiv’s defense ministry, killing at least 10 people, damaging many buildings and leaving a crater next to a children’s playground in the capital.
“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes today across Ukraine, including in Kyiv,” the president said in a written statement.
“These attacks killed and injured civilians and destroyed targets with no military purpose. They once again demonstrate the utter brutality of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”
Biden added, “These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes. Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.
“We again call on Russia to end this unprovoked aggression immediately and remove its troops from Ukraine.”
The bombing campaign came two days after an explosion damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge to Crimea, which Russia constructed for nearly $4 billion in an effort to cement its 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
Russian authorities say three people died in the bridge bombing, which damaged a rail span and caused one of two sections of roadway to collapse. The identity and motive of the perpetrator and their connection, if any, to the Ukrainian state are not yet clear.
READ ALSO: Putin accuses Ukraine of attacking Crimea bridge in ‘act of terrorism’
The bridge bombing, which the Kremlin characterized as terrorism, blocked a vital supply line to the Russian military amid a major Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south of the country.
“There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said Sunday. “And the authors, perpetrators and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine.”
Biden on Thursday warned a group of Democratic donors in New York City that the conflict could lead to a nuclear “Armageddon” because Putin lacks an “off-ramp” after launching the invasion Feb. 24.
When asked about Biden’s remark Friday, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said: “The way out of this conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine.
That is the way out of the conflict” — a terse rebuttal to the president that gained wide circulation on social media.
Putin last week signed a law to annex four partially occupied Ukrainian regions north of Crimea after ordering a mass mobilization of military reservists to replenish troop ranks after a series of military setbacks.
Although Congress has approved billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine by bipartisan votes, former President Donald Trump on Saturday joined Biden in expressing concern about a potentially apocalyptic ending to the proxy war.
“We must demand the immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine or we will end up in World War III and there will be nothing left of our planet, all because stupid people didn’t have a clue,” Trump said at a rally in Nevada. “They don’t understand the power of nuclear.”
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