The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Vladimir Putin and others were seeking to divert the blame for the Moscow concert hall massacre on to Ukraine. The Russian president claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine had collaborated with the terrorist suspects who massacred at least 133 people on Friday night and that the four arrested gunmen planned to flee to Ukraine. Zelenskiy said on Saturday it was “absolutely predictable” that Putin had remained silent for 24 hours before trying to tie the rampage to Ukraine. Kyiv denies having any involvement in the attack, for which the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.
Ukraine’s capital and the western region of Lviv came under a “massive” Russian air attack early on Sunday, officials said. Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said the missiles were fired at the capital “in groups” in the third pre-dawn attack in four days. Preliminary reports suggested there were no casualties or damage, he said, and the city’s air defences had hit “about a dozen” missiles.
