Kyiv blames Russia for fatal Lviv terror attack that left police officer dead

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of being behind a fatal terror attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sunday, claiming that it had recruited the perpetrators via Telegram. 

“The circumstances of this terrorist attack are now being fully analysed. Many facts have already been established,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, and the Security Service of Ukraine will present further details to the public”.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office said that following reports of a break-in at a shopping centre, an explosion occurred when police arrived on the scene. A second explosion then followed the arrival of a second group of police officers, killing 23-year-old police officer Viktoria Shpylka, and injuring another 25 people.

The Ukrainian National Police reported that improvised explosive devices had been used, and that they had detained a suspect. According to investigators, the suspected attacker had made improvised explosive devices and placed them in rubbish bins on the orders of a Russian handler.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, called the incident a terrorist attack, while the Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened a criminal case.

Zelensky’s Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Vereshchuk subsequently raised the issue of blocking Telegram and “other anonymous platforms” in Ukraine, accusing Russia of systematically using the app as a recruitment tool.

“Once again, we see that the enemy systematically uses Telegram to recruit terrorists, coordinate their activities, and carry out terrorist attacks,” Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram. “If we need to limit the capabilities of these platforms to protect the lives of our people and to protect national security, then we must do so.”