Mass strikes on Ukraine are a desperate answer to Putin’s critics at home

Missile attacks on civilian targets mark an attempt to respond to Russian president's wounded pride and criticism his invasion is failing

• Russia-Ukraine war - latest updates

The victims were ordinary Ukrainians: those who died at the busy intersection of Volodymyrska and Shevchenko streets in Kyiv, at a downtown playground, or the hundreds of thousands now in homes without light, water and heat in cities across the country due to a barrage of Russian cruise missiles.

But Vladimir Putin's mass strikes" on Monday were also a desperate answer to his military's critics at home, to the fact that Russia's invasion is failing, and to his own wounded pride after the Crimean Bridge, a pet project, was rocked by an explosion this weekend.