MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russia’s retaliatory strikes and the Foreign Ministry’s announcement of plans for systemic attacks on defense industry sites in Kiev caused panic in the Ukrainian capital, Nikolay Azarov, Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014, told TASS.
"I know that there was quite a panic there. People don’t panic without a reason," he said, commenting on Kiev’s attempts to downplay the effectiveness of Russian weapons.
According to Azarov, Western countries have now found themselves in an awkward position. If they start evacuating their embassies following the Russian Foreign Ministry’s warning, it will prove that their assessments of Russian weapons capabilities were wrong, he noted.
The Ukrainian military launched drones at the academic building and dormitory of the Lugansk Pedagogical University’s Vocational College in the city of Starobelsk in the early hours of May 22. The attack killed 21 people and left another 44 injured.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, strikes involving Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal and Tsirkon missiles hit Ukrainian defense industry sites, command centers of the Ground Forces Headquarters and the Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence in Kiev and the neighboring region overnight on May 24. On May 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the Armed Forces would now begin to carry out systematic strikes on defense industry sites in Kiev. The ministry added that Russia recommended that foreign nationals, including diplomatic personnel, leave the Ukrainian capital as soon as possible and that city residents stay away from military and administrative facilities.
