Ukrainians have responded with a mix of concern and ridicule to the narrative pushed by the Kremlin and Russian state media that Ukraine was behind the terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday, despite the Islamic State claiming responsibility.
For many Ukrainians — both officials and citizens — the accusations were seen as typical Kremlin tactics to justify Moscow’s violence against their country. This includes the false claim that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia used to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, stating that the country was led by neo-Nazi leaders and that the war was aimed at denazifying the country.
“It’s typical for Russia,” said 24-year-old Kyiv resident Iryna Blakyta on Monday, noting that she expected Mr. Putin to use the attack on the concert hall to rally Russians after more than two years of war. “He needs to mobilize people,” Ms. Blakyta added, “he needs to show who the enemy is.”
But concerns about Mr. Putin’s next actions escalated on Monday morning in Kyiv, which was hit by two ballistic missiles in broad daylight, the third air strike on the Ukrainian capital in five days. A university building in a central part of the city was destroyed, with at least 10 people injured, according to officials.
The United States has confirmed ISIS’s claim of responsibility. On Monday night, Mr. Putin acknowledged that “radical Islamists” carried out the attack, but also suggested that Ukraine, backed by the West, may have orchestrated it. Ukraine denied any involvement.
Ukrainian officials said Mr. Putin’s insinuations about Ukraine’s involvement were consistent with the Kremlin’s long-standing practice of spreading disinformation to cover up the failures of its security services.
“Putin is a pathological liar,” wrote Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, on Sunday, highlighting a series of incidents where Russia’s actions were cloaked in lies, including the illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014 and the downing of an airliner over Ukraine by Kremlin-backed fighters the same year.
“Do not let Putin and his henchmen deceive you,” Mr. Kuleba warned.
Mr. Putin had previously claimed that the suspects in Friday’s attack, which killed at least 139 people, were heading towards Ukraine after the rampage at the concert hall and that there was a prepared escape route on the Ukrainian side. He maintained this claim on Monday.
However, Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, ridiculed this claim over the weekend, stating that the Ukrainian-Russian border is heavily mined and guarded, making any crossing extremely complicated and dangerous.
He and other officials pointed to Russia’s history of using terror attacks for political purposes, including Mr. Putin’s use of a deadly school siege in 2004 to consolidate political control over regions of the country.
Some Ukrainian officials and analysts suggested that Russia’s attempt to blame Ukraine could be a pretext for expanding conscription, given the human cost of recent military actions in Ukraine.
Political analyst Mykola Davidiuk said Mr. Putin’s goal was to paint Ukraine as a terrorist-linked enemy to fuel aggressive sentiment towards Ukraine among the Russian people.
But he added that Ukrainians were not concerned about this narrative, as they have grown accustomed to the Kremlin’s dishonest portrayal of the conflict.
For now, Ukrainians were left wondering if Mr. Putin would use the terrorist attack as justification for further strikes against Ukraine. “He needs to constantly create reasons to keep things under control,” said Ms. Blakyta.
On Monday morning, residents of Kyiv were shocked by a series of loud explosions following air raid alerts, prompting them to seek shelter.
The Ukrainian Air Force intercepted two ballistic missiles launched from Crimea, but falling debris destroyed a university gym. Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv confirmed that no one was inside at the time.
Investigators were on site collecting missile debris to analyze the type of weapon used. There were speculations that Russia may have used hypersonic missiles due to the speed at which they struck Kyiv.
The university building was reduced to rubble, with nearby cars covered in dust. Local residents watched as rescue teams cleared the debris, still in shock from the incident.
In his address on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine revealed that Russia had launched a significant number of missiles, attack drones, and aerial bombs at Ukraine in the past week.
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn, Paul Sonne, and Daria Mitiuk contributed to this report.
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