Calling Putin's Strikes Revenge 'Shifts the Blame' Onto Ukraine: Official

Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's wave of strikes on Ukraine on Monday as revenge for the country's alleged targeting of a key bridge over the weekend is "shifting the blame" onto Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

The Russian leader has blamed Ukraine for an attack on Saturday that damaged the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula. The bridge is also a key supply route for Putin's troops.

"There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure," Putin said on Sunday. "This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services."

Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike, but the country's officials have mocked Russia and celebrated the development.

After Russian officials vowed to respond to the attack, a series of explosions were reported in key cities and regions across Ukraine on Monday. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram that 11 people had died and 64 others were injured as a result of the shelling, while critical infrastructure objects, mostly for energy supplies, were hit in eight regions and the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

There is no electricity supply in four regions—Lviv, Poltava, Sumy and Ternopil—while electricity supply was also disrupted in the rest of Ukraine's territory, the State Emergency Service added.

Following the wave of attacks on Ukraine, Kuleba took to Twitter on Monday to urge international media not to suggest that Putin had been provoked into taking action in a Russian invasion that is now approaching its eight-month mark.

"This nonsense about Putin being 'provoked' must stop," Kuleba tweeted. "He does not need anything to 'provoke' him in order to commit heinous crimes. I ask international media to stop shifting the blame on the victim of aggression by suggesting that Putin 'responds' or is being 'provoked.'"

Kuleba also said that Russia had already been striking Ukraine with missiles before the Kerch Bridge was damaged.

"Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor," he tweeted.

The strikes on Ukraine came as Putin's war is reportedly faltering on several fronts. Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and south have seen recent success in regaining territory and important cities, destroying or capturing Russian equipment, and forcing Putin's troops to go on the retreat.

Last week, Yuri Zhukov, an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek that short of resorting to nuclear attacks, Putin could escalate the war in light of these setbacks by intensifying missile strikes against Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure and "command-and-control centers like the government quarter in Kyiv."

However, Zhukov also cast doubt on whether such strikes would have a "battlefield impact" and break Ukrainian morale.

Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment.