UPDATE - Ukraine denies involvement in deadly concert hall shooting in Russia

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY; ADDS BACKGROUND ON EVENTS IN MOSCOW

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) — Ukraine said Friday that it was not involved in a deadly shooting attack that target a concert hall in Russia's Moscow region.

"Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia). It makes no sense whatsoever," Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement on X following the late-night shooting that Russia has declared a "terrorist attack."

Underlining that Kyiv has been at war with Moscow for over two years and that the Russia-Ukraine war would be decided "only on the battlefield," Podolyak said "terrorist attacks do not solve any problems."

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

"There is not the slightest doubt that the events in the Moscow suburbs will contribute to a sharp increase in military propaganda, accelerated militarization, expanded mobilization, and, ultimately, the scaling up of the war. And also to justify manifest genocidal strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine," he added.

In a separate statement, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence (HUR) claimed the shooting to be a "planned and deliberate provocation by the Russian special services" at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Its purpose is to justify even tougher strikes on Ukraine and total mobilization in Russia. The public execution of people in Moscow should be understood as Putin's threat of an even greater escalation and expansion of the war," the HUR said on Telegram.

A later statement by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry rejected accusations by Russian officials claiming Kyiv was involved in the shooting and explosion at the concert hall in Krasnogorsk.

"We consider such accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, create conditions for increased mobilisation of Russian citizens to participate in the criminal aggression against our country and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community," it said.

"We call on the international community to strongly reject Russia's false accusations of Ukraine's alleged involvement in the shooting in Krasnogorsk and to strengthen its support for our country in countering Russia's criminal aggression," it added.

Gunmen killed 40 people and injured over 100 others in a shooting at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced earlier based on preliminary information.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said in a statement on Telegram that Ukrainian officials should be targeted if Kyiv is found to be involved in the attack.