Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia spy chief claims US, UK and Ukraine were behind Moscow attack | Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused by Russia of spying, has had his pre-trial detention extended by three months to 30 June, a Moscow court said. The latest decision to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention “feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained,” Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador, said. “Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan.”

A Russian court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in custody over the attack on the Moscow concert hall that killed at least 139 people, officials said. Moscow earlier announced it had detained 11 people in connection with the attack on the Crocus City Hall. The court’s press service said the latest suspect to be remanded was a man originally from the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported. Officials said he was ordered to be held in detention until at least 22 May, without detailing the exact accusations against him.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a close Putin ally, has said that Ukraine was “of course” behind Friday’s deadly attack on the Moscow concert hall, despite Kyiv denying any involvement in the shooting, which Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Russia is trying to expand its forces in the north-west of the country, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update, adding that most of Russia’s troops remain dedicated to fighting in Ukraine.

Ukrainian security officers have arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east for Kyiv’s war effort, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday. The detainees, identified as residents of the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, planted an explosive device by the line in central Poltava region and planned to detonate it remotely, but they were caught red-handed by SBU officers, the statement said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has demanded the west supply Kyiv with Patriot air defence missiles to help his country’s troops repel Russian forces. “Give us the damn Patriots,” Kuleba told Politico. “If we had enough air defence systems, namely Patriots, we would be able to protect not only the lives of our people, but also our economy from destruction.”