Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, warned that the Kremlin will launch additional attacks after it pursued mass strikes across Ukrainian cities on Monday.
“The first episode has been played. There will be others,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
Russia launched dozens of missiles on Monday that landed in multiple Ukrainian cities — including in Kyiv and areas far from the front lines — in an apparent response to a bridge explosion over the weekend that stymied a key supply route to the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine’s state emergency service indicated at least 11 people died and more than 60 others were injured, with additional widespread reports of electricity outages and structural damage.
“The Ukrainian state in its current configuration with the Nazi political regime will pose a constant, direct and clear threat to Russia,” Medvedev wrote. “Therefore, in addition to protecting our people and protecting the borders of the country, the goal of our future actions, in my opinion, should be the complete dismantling of the political regime of Ukraine.”
Medvedev previously served as president of Russia for four years in between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s terms. Medvedev later became prime minister in 2012, serving for about eight years before joining the Security Council.
Russia’s strikes came the same day as Putin met with the group of national security advisers.
Putin at the meeting characterized Russia’s missile attacks as a response to the partial collapse of a key bridge between Russia and Crimea following a major explosion on Saturday, denouncing it as “terrorism.”
He blamed Ukrainians for the bridge’s collapse, although Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.
“In case of continuation of terrorist attacks on our territory, we will respond in a very harsh manner, and we will respond in level with the level of threats posed against Russian Federation,” Putin said. “Nobody should have any doubt about this.”
The bridge’s collapse marked the latest embarrassment for Putin, who continues to face losses in Ukrainian territory Russia now claims as its own.
Russia has controlled Crimea since 2014, and Putin earlier this month formally annexed four additional Ukrainian regions. But the Ukrainians have continued to dig in, retaking multiple towns in those four regions even after the annexations.