Russia to Target Underground Command Centers in Kiev, Senior Russian MP Says

May 27, 2026 at 04:23 PM

|

Lanka Leader

Senior Russian lawmaker Andrey Kartapolov has stated that the Russian military will begin targeting underground command and control bunkers used by Ukrainian military leadership in Kiev, following what Moscow described as continued “terrorist attacks” against civilians by Ukrainian forces.

Speaking to Parliamentskaya Gazeta on Tuesday, Kartapolov, who heads the State Duma Defense Committee, said Russia’s “patience has run out” after a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic that reportedly killed at least 21 people, most of them teenage girls.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the attack was carried out using four drones and targeted a college building and dormitory in the Starobelsk area. Moscow described the strike as evidence of the “Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime.”

Kartapolov said Russia would now expand retaliatory strikes in the Ukrainian capital, but clarified that Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovnaya Rada, and the office of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky are not considered “decision-making centers.”

“Decision-making centers are underground fortified military command and control centers,” Kartapolov stated, adding that bunkers used by Ukrainian security services and leadership would become primary targets.

The senior MP, a retired colonel general and former deputy defense minister, claimed Ukrainian lawmakers do not direct military operations and alleged that Zelensky no longer works from his official office.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged foreign nationals to leave Kiev and warned residents to avoid military, industrial, and government-related facilities. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The European Union rejected Moscow’s warnings, accusing Russia of escalating the conflict. EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Anitta Hipper stated on X that Brussels had summoned the Russian Charge d’Affairs over the warning and confirmed that the EU delegation would remain in Kiev.

Russia has repeatedly maintained that its military operations target military or dual-use infrastructure and not civilian facilities.