Ukraine Denies Involved In Attack At Crocodile City Hall, Back Accuses Russia's Provocation Scenario

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JAKRTA - Ukraine insists it was not involved in a deadly shooting attack targeting the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Moscow, Russia.

"Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with shootings/explosions at the City Hall of Crocus (Mowow area, Russia). That doesn't make sense at all," Ukraine's assistant president Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement on X after a late-night shooting Russia called a "terrorist attack".

Underlines that the current\Kiev is at war with Moscow for more than two years and that the Russo-Ukrainian war will be decided "only on the battlefield," Podolyak said "terrorist attacks did not solve any problems."

He stressed Ukraine was never forced to use terrorist methods, and that its government heard public warnings from foreign embassies in Moscow about the possibility of such incidents long before the Crocus City Hall shooting took place.

There is little doubt that events on the outskirts of Moscow will contribute to a sharp increase in military propaganda, acceleration of militarization, expansion of mobilization, and ultimately, an increase in war. And (it) is also to justify a real genocide attack on Ukrainian civilians," he added as quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Saturday, March 23.

In a separate statement, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (HUR) claimed the shooting was a "planned and intentional provocation by Russia's special agency" on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The goal is to justify tougher attacks on Ukraine and total mobilization in Russia. Public executions of people in Moscow should be understood as Putin's threat to the escalation and expansion of the greater war," HUR said via the Telegram platform.

Subsequent statements from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rejected allegations by Russian officials claiming Kiev were involved in shootings and explosions at the concert building in Krasnogorsk.

"We consider such accusations to be a provocation planned by the Kremlin to further trigger anti-Ukraine hysteria in Russian society, creating conditions to increase the mobilization of Russian citizens to participate in criminal aggression against our country and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community," the statement said. HUR.

"We call on the international community to firmly reject Russia's false accusations of alleged Ukraine's involvement in the shooting in Krasnogorsk and to strengthen its support for our country in fighting Russia's criminal attacks," the statement continued.