The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has warned Vladimir Putin of a revenge attack following a wave of missile attacks on Kyiv.
On Monday, Russia launched its sixteenth air attack on the Ukrainian capital this month, causing explosions to ring out across the city. Witnesses reported residents headed for shelters in metro stations as the sky above Kyiv filled with smoke.
Officials said most of the drones and missiles fired overnight had been shot down and no targets were hit in the morning. But Ukraine’s General Kyrylo Budanov described the attacks as an attempt to “intimidate us” and suggested retaliation would follow swiftly.
“All those who tried to intimidate us, dreaming that it would have some effect, you will regret it very soon,” General Budanov said in a statement issued via Ukraine’s intelligence ministry. “Our answer will not be long.”
Elsewhere on Monday, two people were killed and eight wounded in a Russian attack on the city of Toretsk in the eastern region of Donetsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
Moscow said its forces hit Ukrainian air bases with overnight strikes, while Ukraine shelled industrial facilities inside Russia, as both sides seek the upper hand ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukraine said that work is underway to restore a runway, and that five aircraft were taken out of service in the western region of Khmelnytskyi, in what was a rare admission of damage to a military target.
“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” the Khmelnytskyi regional governor’s office said.
Kyiv says that Russia is now targeting military facilities and supplies to try to disrupt Ukraine’s preparations for its counterattack, following months during which energy facilities were targeted.
Over the weekend, Ukraine revealed a slick new trailer for its much-anticipated offensive, in which it vowed to “destroy rapists and murderers”. Released by the country’s Ministry of Defense, the trailer calls on Ukrainians to join the armed forces, promising new Western tanks and new battalions of soldiers.
The footage comes as presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak claimed the first stages of the counteroffensive were already underway, with operations including blowing up supply lines and depots taking place.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Podolyak said that the process was “complicated” and that it was not “a matter of one day or a certain date or a certain hour”.
Meanwhile, Mr Podolyak suggested on Twitter on Monday that the postwar settlement following a Ukrainian victory should see a demilitarised zone of 100-120km established inside Russia along the border with Ukraine.
“The key theme of the post-war settlement should be the establishment of safeguards to avoid the recurrence of aggression in the future,” he wrote. He said the demilitarised zone could initially have an international presence to control it.
“Probably, at the initial stage with a mandatory international control contingent,” he wrote.
