Deadly Russian strikes batter Ukrainian cities after Crimea bridge blaze

Massive explosions have rung out in several Ukrainian cities, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more in Russian strikes that President Vladimir Putin says is retaliation for what he describes as "terrorist attacks" by Kiev.

Several Ukrainian cities were left without power or water supplies after dozens of missiles rained down across the country on Monday, in what was seen as revenge for an explosion on a key bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula.

While Ukraine said the rush-hour strikes in eight regions — including Kiev — appeared to have been deliberately timed to kill people, Russia's Putin asserted that "it was not possible to leave" Ukrainian attacks unanswered.

"As of now, 10 people have died and about 60 have been injured across the country as a result of missile strikes by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine," Ukraine's police service said in a statement on Facebook in the afternoon.

It added that work was underway to collect evidence of "Russian atrocities", after one of the largest coordinated Russian attacks against Ukraine since the first weeks of the conflict that erupted on February 24.

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Coordinated attacks

Russia said the goals of the missile strikes had been achieved, drawing condemnation from the NATO chief who vowed to keep supporting Ukraine.

Moscow's defence ministry said it hit "all designated targets" with "high-precision long-range weapons against Ukrainian military, communications and energy targets".

Earlier, Putin said Russia's response to any further Ukrainian attacks would be "severe" and "correspond to the level of threat".

"Let there be no doubt about it," Putin said at the start of a televised meeting of his security council.

His remarks and the Russian attacks came after a huge blast on Saturday damaged a key bridge in Crimea, Putin's flagship project and a vital transport link between Russia and the peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

According to Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko, at least five people were killed and 51 wounded in the strikes that hit the capital city early on Monday. It was the first attack on Kiev since late June.

Ukraine's Prime Minster Denys Shmygal said 11 "important infrastructure facilities" had been damaged across eight regions, even as Kiev's army put the number of cruise missiles launched by Russia at 84.

Electricity cuts were reported in several regions, including Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv and its surrounding region, and also in the northeastern Sumy region, Zhytomyr region in the north and Khmelnitskyi region in the west.

Ukraine said it was seeking a "resolute response" from the United Nations and the West in response to the attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes showed Russia was trying to "wipe us off the face of the earth".

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the series of strikes showed Putin was "desperate because of battlefield defeats", referring to a lightning counter-offensive that has helped Kiev retake large swathes of territory from Russian forces in the east and the south.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia's "horrific and indiscriminate attacks" on civilian targets in Ukraine. "NATO will continue supporting the brave Ukrainian people to fight back against the Kremlin's aggression for as long as it takes," he tweeted.

Russia denies deliberately hitting civilian targets in what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify and demilitarise" Ukraine.

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