Ukraine National Police Qualifies Blast Near US Embassy in Kiev as Hooliganism

Ukrainian national police made the decision Thursday to regard the overnight explosion on the territory of the US embassy in Kiev as hooliganism, even though initially, the criminal case was launched against a terror offense, the police said in a statement.

KIEV (Sputnik) — On Thursday night, an explosion occurred on the territory of the US embassy in Kiev. The blast caused no injuries and the embassy continues to work with an ordinary regimen.

"After additional inspection of the accident scene on the US embassy’s territory in Ukraine, police see signs of criminal offense, under part 4 article 296 ("hooliganism") of the Ukrainian Criminal Code," the national police said.

The statement specified that the decision to qualify the incident as hooliganism was made based on the reason that the item, thrown onto the embassy’s territory, could not harm anybody.

The national police supervise the investigation into the case, the statement added, stressing that Ukraine’s security services were reviewing the account that the offense could have been perpetrated with terror goals in mind.

Earlier in the day, the US embassy in Kiev posted a statement on its Facebook account, saying it did not regard the incident as a terror attack.