The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian forces did not strike residential buildings in Ukraine, two days after an apartment complex in the city of Dnipro was hit during a major Russian missile attack that Kyiv says killed at least 36 people.
During a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The Russian Armed Forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure facilities. Attacks are made on military targets, either obvious or disguised."
The Ukrainian Air Force says the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv says it does not have the equipment to shoot down, Reuters reported.
Peskov suggested that the strike had been the result of a Ukrainian "anti-aircraft counter-missiles" intercepting the Russian missile, saying that "some representatives of the Ukrainian side" had reached the same conclusion.
Oleksiy Arestovych, who advises the Ukrainian president's office, said on Saturday evening that it looked as though the Russian missile had fallen onto the apartment building after being shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
The comment sparked anger in Ukraine, prompting him to apologize. He then retracted his online apology, saying that he had made clear in his initial comments that his conclusion was only a preliminary theory.
Dnipro, a city of almost a million people which serves as a crucial supply hub for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region, has come under repeated bombardment from Russian missiles.
