Ukraine war live updates: U.S. defended Kyiv too quickly after terror attack, Russia says; Ukraine sees security chief shake-up

Russian officials continue to accuse the West and Ukraine of involvement in the Crocus City Hall attack last Friday in which 139 people were killed. Ukraine denies any involvement and the White House said last Sunday that ‘ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack,’ using an acronym for the Islamic State militant group, which said it was behind the attack. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed the U.S.′ initial rejection of any Ukrainian involvement was suspicious and said the Islamic State group was created by the West. In other news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday dismissed the secretary of the country’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, and replaced him with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who served as the head of the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service. No reason was given for the decision, which comes shortly after Zelenskyy replaced the head of the armed forces in a key military shake-up. Russia sees no chance of Switzerland leading efforts to secure peace in Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, after Bern said it planned to host a high-level Ukraine peace conference in the coming months. Swiss authorities have said that Russia is unlikely to take part, at least not at the outset of the talks. Russia has said the Swiss initiative is doomed to fail without Moscow’s participation. The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday said that the U.S., U.K., and Ukraine were behind a deadly terrorist attack in Moscow last week. FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov claimed that the attack was beneficial to Western intelligence services and Ukraine to destabilize Russia. Ukraine has already denied any involvement in the attack, and the White House has said Russian claims to the contrary are ‘Kremlin propaganda.’ Almost 140 people were killed in the attack, and the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility. One of the most powerful men in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle claimed on Tuesday that Ukraine was responsible for the Moscow terrorist attack carried out last Friday. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, answered reporters when asked about Ukraine’s involvement. Several high-profile Russian officials have pointed the finger at Ukraine without presenting any evidence. The Kremlin refused to comment Tuesday on whether it believed there was a link between the Ukrainian government and the gunmen who killed 139 people in a terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall last Friday. President Putin described the suspects as ‘radical Islamists’ but again claimed that there was a link to Ukraine, without presenting proof.