Russia Ukraine war live: 10 injured in missile attack on Kyiv as Moscow pounds capital

Flames were still leaping from the Moscow concert hall besieged by gunmen when Russian officials began suggesting who was really to blame. They presented no evidence, only aspersions and suspicion and counterfactual speculation, but in Russia’s eyes the culprit was clear: Ukraine.

The allegations that Ukraine, now in its third year of fighting after Russia invaded, was behind Friday’s attack that killed at least 137 people, were the first salvo in a disinformation war that has clouded the hearts and minds of people trying to come to grips with the shocking attack.

First came Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who was once regarded as a mild reformer but who has become a vehement hawk since the start of the Ukraine war.

The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Russian Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus reached the space outpost after Saturday’s blastoff from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan that followed an aborted launch attempt two days earlier.

Thursday’s attempted launch was halted by an automatic safety system about 20 seconds before the scheduled liftoff. The head of the Russian space agency, Yuri Borisov, said the aborted launch was triggered by a voltage drop in a power source.

After Russian missiles were launched over Kyiv on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led a chorus of officials calling for more air defences to mitigate against further attacks.

“Russian terrorists attacked the capital with ballistic missiles,” he wrote on Telegram. “We never tire of repeating that Ukraine needs more air defence. This is security for our cities and saves human lives. All of us in the world who respect and protect life must stop this terror.”

Roughly 190 missiles and 140 drones have been fired at targets across Ukraine across the last week, according to the foreign ministry in Kyiv.

Fired uncharacteristically late in the day – usually the attacks happen overnight – it caught thousands of civilians off-guard as air raid sirens resounded just seconds before a hypersonic “Zircon” missile tore through a multistorey building in the central district of Pechersk.

The wife of jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza said on Monday the lives of many political prisoners in Russia, including her husband’s, were at risk in the wake of Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic penal colony last month.

Kara-Murza, who had condemned Russia‘s war in Ukraine and lobbied for Western sanctions against Moscow, was sentenced to 25 years last April on treason and other charges that he denied, comparing the case against him to a Stalinist show trial.

It was the harshest sentence imposed on an opposition politician since the start of Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

“I understand that lives of many people who ended up behind bars today because of their opposition to the regime, many lives are in danger,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza, advocacy director at the Free Russia Foundation, a civil society organisation.

“That is not just my husband’s life who is indeed a years-long opponent of the regime, but also the lives of strong and vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin.”

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic inside Russia, died in a prison camp at the age of 47 on Feb. 16., sparking accusations from his supporters that he had been murdered. The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his death.

The U.S. Treasury on Monday said it imposed sanctions on Russian financial services and technology firms and individuals for developing or offering services in virtual assets aimed at evading U.S. sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 13 entities and two individuals in the latest round of Russian sanctions targeting Russia‘s core financial infrastructure to block its use of the international financial system to further its Ukraine war aims. Five of the entities were designated for being owned or controlled by persons already sanctioned OFAC.

Poland’s government has prepared new legislation to boost the nation’s capacity for self-defense, including more funding for first aid courses, better public warning systems, and more emergency shelters, officials said Friday.

Ministers of defense and of the interior said the bill was prompted by the war that neighboring Ukraine is fighting against Russia’s aggression. Russia has recently captured territory in the east, while Ukraine is running critically low on ammunition.

The legislation will be put before Parliament probably in May, after consultations with the public and with local authorities, ministers said.

The Russian ambassador to Poland ignored a summons to appear at the country’s foreign ministry on Monday after Warsaw said a missile launched at targets in western Ukraine violated its airspace.

Poland’s army said its military radar systems recorded the missile entering the country’s airspace for 39 seconds on Sunday, encroaching 2 km into Polish territory before returning to Ukraine.

“The ambassador of the Russian Federation… did not attend the foreign ministry today to explain the incident,” foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told reporters.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw confirmed Sergey Andreev was summoned to the ministry on Monday but did not attend.

“The ambassador asked whether the Polish side was ready to provide evidence for its claims,” it said, referencing what it described as a “similar situation” in December 2023.

“Since the replies of our Polish colleagues did not indicate that such evidence would be provided this time, the ambassador decided that a discussion on this topic would be pointless and rejected the invitation to the meeting.”

Roughly 190 missiles and 140 drones have been fired at targets across Ukraine across the last week, according to the foreign ministry in Kyiv.

Fired uncharacteristically late in the day – usually the attacks happen overnight – it caught thousands of civilians off-guard as air raid sirens resounded just seconds before a hypersonic “Zircon” missile tore through a multistorey building in the central district of Pechersk.

Poland demanded an explanation from Russia on Sunday after one of its missiles strayed briefly into Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.

It was Russia’s third big missile attack on Ukraine in the past four days, and the second to target the capital, Kyiv.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said Russia used cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers. An air alert in the capital lasted for more than two hours as rockets entered Kyiv in groups from the north.