Editor’s note: This page recaps the news from Ukraine on Sunday, Aug. 21. Follow here for the latest updates and news from Monday, Aug. 22, as Russia’s invasion continues.
Angry Russians called Sunday for attacks on Ukrainian government buildings after the death of a prominent Putin ally in a car bombing after a festival outside Moscow.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukrainian involvement: “We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia.” Ukrainian officials, however, urged government employees in the capital to work remotely this week amid concerns that the buildings would be targeted for attack.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the explosion ripped through the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Daria Dugina, 29, a conservative commentator, near the village of Bolshie Vyazemy on Saturday night. RT reported that the vehicle belonged to her father, well-known anti-Western Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin — often called “Putin’s brain” — giving rise to suspicions that he was the intended target. Dugina herself was a hardliner who said documented Russian atrocities in Kyiv suburb of Bucha were staged.
“Kyiv will shudder” said a headline on Russia’s Tsargrad.tv website, while state-run RT editor Margarita Simonyan retweeted a call to bomb the Ukrainian intelligence agency headquarters in Kyiv.
“Decision-making centers! Decision-making centers!! Decision making centers!!!” she said in a Telegram post.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the explosion ripped through the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Daria Dugina, 29, a conservative commentator, near the village of Bolshie Vyazemy on Saturday night. RT reported that the vehicle belonged to her father, well-known anti-Western Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin, giving rise to suspicions that he was the intended target.
The blast came at about 9 p.m. local time, shortly after Dugina left a festival where she attended a “Tradition and History” lecture led by her father, Russian authorities said.
Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Telegram that Russia would consider any involvement by Ukraine in the incident to be “state terrorism.”