A Ukrainian official on Sunday denied involvement in the car bombing death of the daughter of a Putin ally.
“We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Daria Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologist Alexander Dugin, who is often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” was killed when her car exploded on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday. The Investigative Committee branch for the Moscow region said the Saturday night blast was caused by a bomb planted in the SUV driven by Dugina.
The 29-year-old expressed views in line with her father, a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept ideology and a vehement supporter of Russia’s sending of troops into Ukraine.
According to the BBC, Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Telegram that Russia would consider any involvement by Ukraine in the incident to be “state terrorism.”
Latest developments:
►Two Russians and a Ukrainian were arrested for alleged espionage at an Albanian military plant. Albania, a NATO member since 2009, has strongly renounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has joined in sanctions against Moscow.
►The United States will ship another $775 million package of arms to Ukraine, including long-range artillery ammunition used to devastating effect on Russian forces, according to a senior defense official.
►Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signaled support for international inspectors to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after both nations claimed the other attacked it, striking fears of a nuclear disaster.
Ukraine destroys Russian radar system
The Ukrainian military on Saturday said it had destroyed a Russian radar system and other equipment in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in occupied regions.
“Tonight, there were powerful explosions in Melitopol, which the whole city heard,” the Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Ferodov, said. “According to preliminary data, (it was) a precise hit on one of the Russian military bases, which the Russian fascists are trying to restore for the umpteenth time in the airfield area.”
Child loses eye, 2 others injured in missile strike
A Russian missile attack injured 12 people, including three children, in the town of Voznesenk in the Mykolaiv region on Saturday, the Ukraine prosecutor’s office said.
The strike also damaged houses and an apartment block.
Two of the three children were in serious condition, and one lost an eye in the attack, the governor said.
Ukrainians stroll down Kyiv street with Russian tanks on display
Pedestrians on an avenue in Kyiv viewed destroyed Russian tanks on display on Saturday, rolled in on the beds of Ukrainian trucks. The burned-out tanks and infantry carriers were brought to Khreshchatyk boulevard leading to Maidan Square in central Kyiv, drawing public attention. Locals were able to walk beside the exhibit of military vehicles with the street blocked off to traffic.
“It is very beautiful that we made such an exhibition because patriotic places come together and want to rush to go help and defend. And when everyone helps, it raises morale very much,” student and Kyiv resident Irina Tupolenko told the Associated Press.
The vehicles were collected from battlefields in the east and south and signaled defiance to the Russian invaders, The New York Times reported.
Contributing: The Associated Press
