ISTANBUL

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on Saturday said that his country has "no slightest connection" with Friday’s terrorist attack in the Russian capital Moscow.

“Any attempts to connect Ukraine to the terrorist attack are absolutely untenable. Ukraine has not the slightest connection to this incident,” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on X.

Ukraine will solve the problem of Russia's aggression on the battlefield, added Podolyak. “The versions of Russian special services regarding Ukraine are absolutely untenable and absurd.”

“We expected Russian officials' version of the ‘Ukrainian trace’ in the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall. Primitivism and predictability are ideal characteristics of the Russian security services. Once again, the FSB (Federal Security Service) confirms this... But it is still necessary to emphasize the facts once again,” Podolyak said.

He further said that an armed group passed into a crowded area in the central region of Moscow without any inspections, and for 1.5 hours the group was shooting people, and that Russian law enforcement did not intervene.

Podolyak stated that the terrorist group left the building calmly, saying: “Preliminary data and witness statements give portraits of the attackers and quite clearly link them to Islamic radicals.”

“The wanted men are moving toward blocked border crossings where there is active fighting and where every meter is saturated with Russian security forces in order to make a manifest, demonstrative crossing.”

Gunmen opened fire at concertgoers late Friday, killing at least 115 people and injuring 145 others. The attack took place as the rock band Picnic was about to perform at the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow.