EU calls Russian missile strikes a 'war crime'

The European Union has condemned Russia’s missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities that killed civilians and damaged infrastructure.

The indiscriminate targeting of civilians amounts to a “war crime”, Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the European Commission told a news briefing on Monday.

"They are barbaric and cowardly attacks," he said as Russian missiles continued to rain down on major cities across all Ukraine.

"The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms these heinous attacks on the civilians and civilian infrastructure [...] This is something which is against international humanitarian law and this indiscriminate targeting of civilians amounts to a war crime," Stano continued.

Referring to a complaint by Moldova that three cruise missiles fired by Russia had violated its airspace, he said using airspace of neighbouring countries to attack Ukraine was also unacceptable.

Earlier, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola described the fresh wave of attacks as “sickening”.

The Russian military launched a wave of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in retaliation to an explosion over the weekend that damaged the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to Russia.

The missile strikes in Kyiv and other cities in the north and west were the first since Russian forces withdrew from the north of Ukraine in April. Russia invaded in February and initially tried to occupy the capital Kyiv but the advance was repulsed and by April it concentrated its efforts in the east and south.