Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Monday that at least fourteen people were killed and scores more injured amid multiple missile strikes across Ukraine, including the capital city of Kyiv, according to a BBC News report.

The major escalation in the war appeared to be retaliation for Saturday’s explosion on a key bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Ukraine claimed that more than eighty missiles were launched, of which more than forty were shot down. Many of the missiles struck the cities of Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, leaving some areas without electricity and water.

Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, said that the strikes had no “practical military sense” and that Moscow’s goal was to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

In a defiant video, Zelenskyy said that “Ukraine cannot be intimidated. It can only be more united.”

“They have specifically chosen such a time and such targets to cause as much damage as possible,” the president said. “But we Ukrainians, we help each other, believe in ourselves, rebuild everything. Now the shortages of electricity may occur, but not the shortage of our defiance and our confidence in our victory.”

Meanwhile, the White House said that the “brutal” attacks struck non-military targets, including a university and children’s playground.

On Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with Zelenskyy to condemn the Russian strikes while pledging continued U.S. support for the country.

Biden “expressed his condemnation of Russia’s missile strikes across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, and conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

“[Biden] also underscored his ongoing engagement with allies and partners to continue imposing costs on Russia, holding Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities, and providing Ukraine with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance,” it continued.

Congress has already approved more than $53 billion in assistance for Ukraine throughout this year.

In a statement on Twitter, Zelenskyy said that the two leaders had a “productive conversation.”

“Air defense is currently the number 1 priority in our defense cooperation,” he wrote. “We also need U.S. leadership with the G7’s tough stance and with support for our UN GA resolution.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he was “deeply shocked” by the strikes, which he described as “another unacceptable escalation of the war” for which civilians are paying the highest price.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.