Moscow says it will step up strikes on Ukraine after kyiv pledges to hit Russian oil refineries – POLITICO

“The Ukrainian people should only blame the head of the kyiv regime for this,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, referring to the Ukrainian president. “It is Zelensky who bears full personal and political responsibility.”

In an interview with Reuters, Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces “must respond in every possible way” to Russian attacks, which are increasingly targeting bridges over the Dnipro River in the capital.

“With their attacks on our energy, we must respond on their energy. First of all, the oil refiners: what makes them money for this war,” he added, while asserting that Ukraine would not retaliate by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.

The Russian government also accused kyiv of attempts “to disrupt voting in the elections… through terrorist attacks against civilian targets on Russian territory.” President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party largely dominated the results of the Russian parliamentary elections, held from September 18 to 20.

Russia’s threat to step up strikes against Ukraine came on the same day that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made a surprise one-day visit to kyiv to show support for Ukraine.

During Merz’s visit, kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that Russia had hit the roadway of the city’s North Bridge. On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning against foreign visitors and diplomats and urged them to leave kyiv.

Merz is expected to renew Germany’s support for Ukraine with a new military aid package worth around 1 billion euros, in addition to generators, substations and repair kits worth 350 million euros to strengthen Ukraine’s under attack power grid.

Zelensky and Merz visited the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, which was recently hit by Russian drones in an attack that killed two people and injured seven others and “was deliberate,” the Ukrainian president said on social media.