Ukraine says it has no knowledge of an alleged attempted drone strike on the Kremlin in Moscow, adding that it does not use its means to attack other countries.
"We do not have information on so called night attacks on Kremlin," the spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Serhiy Nykyforov, told CNN on Wednesday, when asked about Moscow’s claim that it had foiled a Kyiv-ordered drone strike in the Russian capital.
"As President Zelensky has stated numerous times before, Ukraine uses all means at its disposal to free its own territory, not to attack others," Nykyforov added.
Russia referred to the incident as an "act of terrorism," blaming Ukraine of attempting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, an accusation Nykyforov said was better directed at Moscow.
"A terror attack is destroyed blocks of residential buildings in Dnipro and Uman, or a missile at a line at Kramatorsk rail station and many other tragedies," he said. "What happened in Moscow is obviously about escalating the mood on the eve of May 9."
May 9 marks Victory Day, which celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
"It’s a trick to be expected from our opponents," Zelensky's spokesperson said.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also denied Kyiv had any involvement and said it makes no sense for Ukraine to have carried out the alleged strike.
"First of all, it absolutely does not solve any military goals. And it is very unhelpful in the context of preparing for our offensive actions. And it definitely does not change anything at a battlefield," he said. "This would allow Russia to justify mass strikes on Ukrainian cities, civilians and infrastructure facilities. Why would we need that? What’s the logic?"
Podolyak also said Moscow’s claims were an attempt at controlling the narrative ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
"Russia without a doubt is very afraid of Ukraine starting an offensive on the front line and is trying to seize the initiative, distract the attention and create distractions of a catastrophic nature," he said. "So, Russian statements on such staged operations need to be taken as an attempt to create pretext for a large-scale terrorist attack in Ukraine."
Videos have circulated on Russian social media purporting to show the detonation of a drone and smoke rising from the direction of the Kremlin. CNN is not yet able to establish the veracity of those videos.
Watch CNN's reporting of the videos:
