Explosions have been reported a day after Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack on the Kremlin in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is scheduled to speak at The Hague as part of an unforeseen trip to the Netherlands at the time of the airstrikes.
He will also go to the International Criminal Court, which is looking into purported war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Russia has accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, but Mr Zelensky denied that his country carried out the attack.
“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities.”Zelensky said in Finland, after meeting his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto and the leaders of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
During his visit to the Netherlands, Zelensky is expected to meet Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Dutch media said that the two were likely to discuss Zelensky’s demands for more military support, including range weapons and fighter jets.
Last January, Rutte said that supplying fighter jets was not taboo, although such a move would be “a really big next step”.
Following the alleged drone attacks, Russia threatened to retaliate when and where it considered necessary.
21 persons were murdered on Wednesday by Russian airstrikes in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. According to officials, the casualties included shoppers at supermarkets and repair workers at an energy firm.
Additionally, early on Thursday morning, air raid sirens were heard throughout much of Ukraine. Both Kyiv and Odesa reported hearing loud explosions. The incident was the most recent in a string of explosions, fires, and drone attacks that have been reported in Russia in recent weeks.
At the same time, a drone attacked an oil refinery in southern Russia, burning a portion of it on fire.
Some commentators have claimed that Russia internally carried out and staged the alleged drone strike on the Kremlin.
According to Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia may have faked the attack on the Kremlin in an effort to “show some kind of escalation on the part of Ukraine.”
However, other commentators dissented, claiming that Russia would not be interested in staging an attack that would make the Kremlin appear vulnerable in order to appear “weak.”
It would also raise concerns about Putin’s level of protection and the potency of Russian air defences.
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