June 8 (UPI) -- Kiev police said an explosion occurred at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, early Thursday but U.S. officials disagreed with local authorities calling it a terrorist act.
No one was injured in the blast.
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A security officer stands guard near of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, on Thursday. An unidentified perpetrator threw an explosive device onto the territory of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev shortly after midnight, police said. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
Oksana Blischik, the spokeswoman for the Kiev police, formally called the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Kiev, said no injuries were reported after the explosion shortly after midnight.
"The explosion on the territory of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev is treated as an act of terrorism," Blischik said in a statement.
Kiev police said that "investigators found that an unknown person threw an unidentified explosive device on the territory of the diplomatic mission," adding that investigators were on the scene.
The U.S. Embassy in Kiev said it could confirm the incident but said it could not characterize it as terrorism.
"We can confirm that there was a security incident involving a small incendiary device shortly after 12 a.m., June 8, at the Embassy compound," the Embassy wrote in a statement. "There was no damage to Embassy property. No personnel were injured. All Embassy operations are continuing as normal. At this time, we do not consider this incident a terrorist act. The Embassy is working closely with our local partners, and the investigation is ongoing."
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