The damage to the building of the Portuguese diplomatic mission in Kiev was caused by the work of the Ukrainian air defense forces, and the accusations against Moscow distort the facts. This is stated in a message from the Russian Embassy in Portugal, published on the diplomatic mission's Telegram channel.
„Portuguese media are actively spreading information about damage to the premises of the Portuguese embassy in Kiev as a result of the strike by the Russian armed forces on military facilities in the city on December 20 of this year. Journalists are fueling a Russophobic atmosphere and distorting the facts, portraying this incident as a "shelling of the diplomatic mission", the embassy notes.
„The damage to the building housing the Portuguese diplomatic mission was caused by the work of the Ukrainian air defense system, which has repeatedly proven its "effectiveness", the diplomats added.
"The regime of Volodymyr Zelensky deploys military facilities and decision-making centers, as well as air defense systems within the city limits, using civilian buildings as a human shield," the embassy writes.
"According to the Russian Defense Ministry, on December 20, an SBU command post, a "Luch" design bureau, which develops and produces missile weapons, and positions of the anti-aircraft missile complex were hit in the Ukrainian capital “Patriot“.
This was a response to the Ukrainian shelling of the Rostov region with American and British ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles on December 18“, the diplomatic mission explained.
As FACT already wrote, falling debris from Saturday's strike in the center of Kiev damaged about twenty high-rise office buildings, as well as the Catholic Church “St. Nicholas“, which is one of the city's landmarks, and the Kiev National Linguistic University.
A shock wave from an alleged interception of a low-flying missile also shattered windows and caused other damage to six embassies located in one building, including the Portuguese one, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The remaining missions in the building are those of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, the Republic of North Macedonia and Montenegro, the spokesman for the the Ukrainian foreign policy department Giorgi Tyhi, quoted by Ukrinform.