The international locations’ leaders have verbally attacked one another a number of instances in the course of the conflict that Russia began by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy denied that Ukrainian forces have been chargeable for the purported drone assault.
The Kremlin promised unspecified retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act, and pro-Kremlin figures known as for the assassinations of senior Ukraine leaders.
Uncertainty nonetheless surrounds precisely what occurred within the purported assault.
Putin’s spokesman on Thursday accused the US of involvement.
To generate home help for the conflict, Moscow has typically tried accountable Washington for making an attempt to destroy Russia by its assist for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised reporters throughout a every day convention name that the Kremlin was “well aware that the decision on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington”.
“And then Kyiv does what it’s told to do,” Peskov stated, with out providing proof for his declare.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council on the White House, described the declare as “ludicrous”.
Zelenskyy, within the Netherlands, stated he was “not interested” within the Kremlin’s opinion.
US intelligence officers are nonetheless making an attempt to find out who was behind the drone incident and are exploring varied potentialities, together with a false flag operation by Russia or {that a} fringe group with sympathies for Ukraine might have been concerned, based on a US official.
But the official, who spoke Thursday on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate matter, stated intelligence officers do not but have any definitive solutions.
The official added that the Biden administration “certainly would not support the strike against Mr Putin.
Zelenskyy’s top adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, claimed Thursday that Russia had “staged” the alleged drone attack.
He cited the delay in Russian state media reporting it and “simultaneous video from totally different angles” that appeared to show the aftermath of the alleged 2.30am attack.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War also saw evidence of staging.
“Russia possible staged this assault in an try and deliver the conflict house to a Russian home viewers and set situations for a wider societal mobilization,” the think tank said.
Given recent Russian moves to bolster security, it’s “extraordinarily unlikely that two drones might have penetrated a number of layers of air defence and detonated or been shot down simply over the center of the Kremlin in a manner that offered spectacular imagery caught properly on digital camera,” the ISW stated.
In The Hague, where the International Criminal Court is based, Zelenskyy urged the global community to hold Putin accountable and told the ICC judges that Russia’s leader “deserves to be sentenced for (his) prison actions proper right here within the capital of the worldwide regulation”.
It was the first time the global court circulated a warrant for a leader of one of the five permanent UN Security Council members.
The Ukrainian president also used his trip to press the prime ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands to send advanced warplanes so his country can achieve “justice on the battlefield”.
Zelenskyy has successfully assembled significant Western military and political support for Ukraine’s defense since the war began.
Zelenskyy traveled in a Dutch-supplied plane and an armoured car, with security kept tight at his appearances. Next week, he is expected to go to Berlin, the capital of European Union economic powerhouse Germany, in the latest display of the Western might marshaled against Putin.
Zelenskyy’s trips have paid dividends. After traveling to Washington last December and then London, Paris and Brussels in February, Ukraine received heavy artillery and tanks.
But the chances of Putin standing trial in The Hague are remote. The court, which puts individuals on trial for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression, doesn’t have a police force to execute its warrants. The Russian leader is unlikely to travel to any of the ICC’s 123 member nations, which are under obligation to arrest him, if they can.
On the battlefield, Ukraine’s military said that three Russian drones that hit the southern city of Odesa early Thursday had “for Moscow” and “for the Kremlin” written on them, seemingly implying they were sent in retaliation for the reported strike on the Kremlin.
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv was the target of an air attack for the third time in four days — once Thursday morning, then a second time at night.
Google Maps shows devastating impact of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine’s Mariupol
Kyiv’s air defence systems downed a drone in the central Pecherskyi district, sparking a fire in a four-story building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
People sheltered in underground tunnels beneath Kyiv’s Maidan Square as air raid sirens wailed.
Two defensive missiles streaked across the evening sky, and a loud explosion was heard. No casualties were immediately reported.
In Russia, drones hit two oil facilities in southern regions of the country near Ukraine in what appeared to be a series of attacks on fuel depots behind enemy lines, Russian media reported Thursday.
Four drones struck an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, which borders the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing law enforcement sources. Another facility was reportedly hit in the Rostov region.
Source: www.9news.com.au
