War in Ukraine, day 765. Russia says it has found proof of link between terrorists who killed more than 140 people in Moscow and “Ukrainian nationalists”

The most important events of the last 24 hours:

• Russia says it has found proof of link between terrorists who killed more than 140 people in Moscow and ‘Ukrainian nationalists’
• Explosions in the Ukrainian regions of Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi and Dnipro
• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s insistent call to the US Congress for military aid
• Despite the Russian attacks, the Ukrainian economy grew by 5.3% in 2023
• Kiev asks NATO for air defense means
• Putin does not plan to meet with the families of the victims of the attack in Moscow
• Actor Steven Seagal, a supporter of Vladimir Putin, visited the victims of the terrorist attack in Moscow
• Russian spy chief visits North Korea

Update 08:32 Russia has announced that it has “evidence” linking “Ukrainian nationalists” to the perpetrators of the terrorist attack that left 143 dead in Moscow.

The attack took place on the evening of March 22 at Crocus City Hall in the Russian capital and was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, but senior Russian officials have repeatedly accused Ukraine and Western countries of instigating the attack.

“Interrogation of the detained terrorists, examination of some devices they had on them and analysis of information on financial transactions made it possible to obtain evidence of their links with Ukrainian nationalists,” said the Investigative Committee of Russia, the body tasked with the most important criminal investigations in the country.

According to the cited source, the four men who opened fire with automatic weapons and later set fire to the concert hall in Moscow would have received significant sums of money and cryptocurrency financing from Ukraine in order to prepare the attack.

The Investigative Committee has not released any documents to support these claims, but announced the arrest of a new suspect accused of participating in the financing of the terrorist attack.

The new statements of the Russian authorities were immediately qualified by the US as “absurd propaganda”.

Update 07:30 Explosions were heard in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi regions and the city of Dnipro on Friday morning, while Russian cruise missiles were spotted in Ukrainian airspace, Ukrainian station Suspilne reported.

It is not clear whether the missiles hit any targets, Reuters notes.

Update 00:00 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, in favor of a “rapid adoption” of a vast “vital” military aid program for his country against the background of the intensification of Russian attacks, reports AFP.

That $60 billion program has been stalled in Congress since last year.

“I informed House Speaker Johnson about the situation on the battlefield, especially about the dramatic increase in Russian air terror,” said Zelenski, who spoke by phone with this American official.

“In this situation, the rapid adoption of American aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital,” Zelenskiy emphasized on Telegram.

War in Ukraine, March 28, 2024 | Kiev asks NATO for air defense means

War in Ukraine, March 27, 2024 | Hungarian Foreign Minister: “We believe that Russia cannot be defeated in the war in Ukraine”

War in Ukraine, March 26, 2024 | Vladimir Putin: “Why did the terrorists, after their crime, try to leave for Ukraine?”

War in Ukraine, March 25, 2024 | The Russians launched more than 1,000 bombs, drones and missiles in one week

War in Ukraine, March 24, 2024 | Donald Tusk hopes that the attack in Moscow will not be “a pretext” for the “escalation of violence”