Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the gunmen involved in killing 115 people at a Moscow concert were on their way to Ukraine following their attack.
Putin responded to the mass shooting Saturday after four people dressed in camouflage entered the concert hall and unloaded their automatic weapons into the crowd. The gunmen, along with an additional seven others, were captured at the scene.
“All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained,” Putin said. “They tried to hide and were moving towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a passage was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”
Ukraine is over two years into its conflict with Russia, which began when Putin sent troops to invade the eastern and southern border in February 2021. Putin has since claimed to have annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Putin to deny any involvement.
“What happened in Moscow yesterday is obvious, and Putin and other scums are trying to shift the blame to someone else,” Zelensky wrote on X. “Their methods are always the same. We have seen it all before. All of this happened yesterday, and instead of taking care of his Russian citizens and addressing them, this duffer Putin remained silent for a day, thinking about how to link this to Ukraine. Everything is entirely predictable.”
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday that there was “no indication at this time that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved in the shooting.” The Islamic State has taken credit for the attack, but there hasn’t been any information released about the detainees to confirm.
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“The United States strongly condemns the heinous terrorist attack in Moscow. We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones and to those who were injured or affected by these unconscionable attacks against innocent civilians. ISIS is a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday.
Russia launched air strikes against Ukraine Friday morning, which killed 30, according to Zelensky.
