Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said tonight in his video address that Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking for ways to shift the blame for the massacre in a concert hall near Moscow that happened on Friday, Reuters reports.
"It's obvious that Putin and other thugs are just trying to blame someone else. Their methods are always the same. We've seen it all before, destroyed buildings and shootings and explosions. And they always find someone else to blame," Zelensky said.
Reuters reports that Chechen rebels have accused Russian secret services of being behind apartment bombings in Moscow, Buynkask and Volgodonsk blamed on Chechens that killed more than 200 people in Russia in 1999, prompting Putin, who was prime minister at the time, to send troops back to Chechnya.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Zelensky is "the only head of state who is crazy enough to blame Russia for a terrorist attack."
Zelensky said Putin should use his own people to fight terrorism at home instead of attacking Ukraine.
"They brought hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here, on Ukrainian soil, to fight against us, and they don't care what happens in their own country. Yesterday, while all this was going on, instead of dealing with the citizens of Russia, he addressed them, weakling Putin was silent for 24 hours, thinking how to tie it to Ukraine. All of this is absolutely predictable," said Zelenski.
Putin said earlier today that all those responsible for the deadly attack at a concert near Moscow will be "justly and inevitably" punished.
Addressing the nation, Putin said the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine.
At least 133 people died in yesterday's attack on the "Crocus City Hall" concert hall in Moscow.
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According to official data, more than 140 people were injured in the attack.
The Afghan branch of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on its social media.
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