The Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent known as Sergei Mardan (in fact, Sergei Leleka) does not, strictly speaking, admit that Russia was behind the carnage, only to his pleasure at viewing the “wonderful fireworks”. “Even if”, he claims, this proves to be a Russian attack (as was indisputably the case), it would have been “much more pleasant to see the Dnipro Bridge destroyed.” Having thus admitted to delight at seeing a missile attack on innocent civilians, he goes on to show photos of Russia’s destruction of Mariupol, and to assure this viewers that the same will happen in Kharkiv, Dnipro and Kyiv.

On his VKontakte page, Mardan claimed that Russia never deliberately targets civilians “regardless of their political views, level of support for the Kyiv regime and attitude to Russia. But the principle that “Ukraine must suffer” remains unchanged.”

He ends with the following: “Therefore the missile strikes will continue until the full enlightenment of Ukrainian minds and realization that peace comes from the East, and from the West only Leopards and HIMARS”.