Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Moscow's forces were responsible for a strike on a crowded shopping center in the Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk earlier this week, in which 18 people were killed, AFP reported.

 

"Our army does not attack any civilian infrastructure site. We have every capability of knowing what is situated where," Putin said at a news conference in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat.

 

"Nobody among us shoots just like that, randomly. It is normally done based on intelligence data on targets" and with "high-precision weapons".

 

"I am convinced that this time, everything was done in this exact manner," Putin said.

 

Ukraine accused Russia of hitting the center on Monday in Kremenchuk, 330 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

 

Russia denies the accusation and previously claimed its missile salvo was aimed at an arms depot and the center was not in operation at the time.