MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had carried out a massive and successful strike on military and military-related targets in Ukraine overnight in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.
Russia’s military released the statement after Ukrainian officials said Russia had launched an intense missile and drone barrage at Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in the early hours of Friday and that three people had been killed.
Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind a deadly bomb attack on a bridge over a railway line in western Russia at the weekend that was blown up just as a train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath.
Seven people were killed and 155 injured in the incident which Kyiv has not taken responsibility for. Separately, Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable bomber planes at airfields over the same weekend, causing significant damage. President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump this week that he would retaliate.
The Kremlin confirmed on Friday that the big overnight strikes had been a response to what it called Kyiv’s “acts of terrorism”.
“Everything that is taking place within the framework of the special military operation (in Ukraine), everything that is being done by our military on a daily basis, is a response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, which has acquired all the characteristics of a terrorist regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine has frequently accused Russia of terrorism, citing attacks in which thousands of civilians have been killed. Both sides say they do not target civilians.
The Russian military said in its statement that it had used long-range weapons to strike Ukraine.
“In response to terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a massive strike overnight with long-range air, sea and land-based precision weapons,” the ministry said.
It said the strike had targeted “Ukrainian design bureaus, enterprises for the production and repair of weapons and military equipment, assembly workshops for strike drones, flight training centres, and Ukrainian armed forces weapons and military equipment depots.”
“The objective of the strike was achieved. All designated targets were hit.”
Russian troops had also taken control of the settlement of Fedorivka in eastern Ukraine, the Defence Ministry said.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn/Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Toby Chopra)
