the critical thinking tool kit

The Critical Thinking Tool Kit: Spark Your Team's Creativity with 35 Problem Solving Activities

• Marlene Caroselli

In this Book

• Attending to Attention
• Rhymed Reductions
• The Endless Question
• The Questionable Question
• The K-W-I-C Technique
• Juxtaposed Pairs
• Presidential Pursuits
• The Umbrage Not Taken
• Brainteasing/Brainsqueezing
• Perceptual Shifts
• Organizational Oxymorons
• Stratification
• Particular Virtues
• Perspicacious Perspectives
• Turnarounds
• Left Is Right. So Is Right.
• Ms. Matches and Mr. Matches
• Cre8—Get N2It
• Thinking Outside the Locks
• Thinking Is an Art
• A Kin to Kinesthesia
• Low and High Logos
• Blues on Parade
• Scrambled Pegs
• Crises Critiques
• Trend Spotters
• The Triple-A Approach
• A Foolery of Fun
• Patterned Organization
• Direct Responses
• In Your Sights
• Giving Problems a Why’d Berth
• Resource-Full
• Living Problems, Lively Solutions

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The Critical Thinking Toolkit

The Critical Thinking Toolkit is a comprehensive compendium that equips readers with the essential knowledge and methods for clear, analytical, logical thinking and critique in a range of scholarly contexts and everyday situations. Takes an expansive approach to critical thinking by exploring concepts from other disciplines, including evidence and justification from philosophy, cognitive biases and errors from psychology, race and gender from sociology and political science, and tropes and symbols from rhetoric Follows the proven format of The Philosopher’s Toolkit and The Ethics Toolkit with concise, easily digestible entries, “see also” recommendations that connect topics, and recommended reading lists Allows readers to apply new critical thinking and reasoning skills with exercises and real life examples at the end of each chapter Written in an accessible way, it leads readers through terrain too often cluttered with jargon Ideal for beginning to advanced students, as well as general readers, looking for a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to critical thinking

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The Critical Thinking Toolkit

About this ebook.

• Takes an expansive approach to critical thinking by exploring concepts from other disciplines, including evidence and justification from philosophy, cognitive biases and errors from psychology, race and gender from sociology and political science, and tropes and symbols from rhetoric
• Follows the proven format of The Philosopher’s Toolkit and The Ethics Toolkit with concise, easily digestible entries, “see also” recommendations that connect topics, and recommended reading lists
• Allows readers to apply new critical thinking and reasoning skills with exercises and real life examples at the end of each chapter
• Written in an accessible way, it leads readers through terrain too often cluttered with jargon
• Ideal for beginning to advanced students, as well as general readers, looking for a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to critical thinking

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About the author

Galen Foresman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA. His research interests include ethics, philosophy of punishment, philosophy of religion, and philosophy as it applies to pop culture. He is the author of several book chapters and the editor of Supernatural and Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2013).

Peter S. Fosl is Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Chair of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Transylvania University, USA. A David Hume Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, his research interests include skepticism and the history of philosophy, as well as topics in politics and religion. He is author or editor of many books, including The Big Lebowski and Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), The Philosopher's Toolkit, 2nd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2010), and The Ethics Toolkit (Wiley Blackwell, 2007). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access academic journal Cogent OA: Arts & Humanities.

Jamie Carlin Watson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Broward College, USA. His primary research is in the social epistemology of epistemic advantage and expertise, especially as they influence testimony in practical fields such as medicine and business. He has published articles in journals such as Episteme and Journal of Applied Philosophy, and is the co-author of Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well, 2nd ed. (2015), What's Good on TV? Understanding Ethics through Television (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), and Philosophy Demystified (2011).

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Critical thinking toolkit

The Critical Thinking Toolkit has been designed to introduce you to all aspects of critical thinking, from recognising how cognitive biases influence how we interact with information, evaluating the reliability of information and critical reading and writing. 

It is designed to be worked through from the start but you can dip into different sections if you prefer. It is interactive with tasks throughout to help you fully learn the theories and techniques.  Click on the image to view the toolkit.

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The Critical Thinking Toolkit: Spark Your Team's Creativity with 35 Problem Solving Activities Paperback – Bargain Price, April 29, 2011

• Print length 224 pages
• Language English
• Publisher AMACOM
• Publication date April 29, 2011
• Dimensions 8.5 x 0.47 x 11.02 inches
• ISBN-10 081441740X
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

Book description.

Unimaginative. Risk-adverse. Prone to group-think. These are not just empty complaints about today’s employees. A recent article in Newsweek found solid data that proves a “creativity crisis” is plaguing America.

Yet critical thinking, the ability to approach a problem both analytically and creatively, is the bedrock of success for companies and their people. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be learned.

The Critical Thinking Tool Kit aims to get employees thinking better and faster with 35 hands-on activities and ready-to-use assessments. Team members work on challenging assumptions, brainstorming divergent ideas, and then pinpointing the ones that best benefit an organization. And they’ll learn to do it in real-life speed—quickly!

The training exercises in The Critical Thinking Tool Kit offer an invigorating departure from the everyday—with the potential for big payoffs in the form of enhanced “on-your-feet” thinking, innovative problem-solving, and profitable idea generation from everyone on the team.

From the Back Cover

Now everyone can learn to think creatively, analytically, and quickly with brain-boosting activities for the workplace.

Efficient and punctual employees are great at keeping the day-to-day processes humming along. But with tight budgets, lean staffs, and fierce competition, “day-to-day” is losing relevancy fast. What organizations need now are people who can quickly assess challenging situations and creatively problem-solve to find solutions. They need nimble thinkers who can both connect the dots and see the dots that aren’t there.

The ability to think quickly, innovatively, and logically—in other words, to think critically—is a prized commodity in the workplace today. Whether it’s improving a business process, forming new alliances, devising a marketing campaign, articulating a vision, analyzing data from an unexpected angle, or any other business function, critical thinkers bring clarity and originality to the task and are invaluable players on every team.

Thankfully, critical thinking is neither a fixed nor innate skill. Everyone is capable of building their critical thinking skills, and everyone will benefit from the 35 brain-boosting activities in The Critical Thinking Tool Kit . Fun and original, these activities help trainers and managers draw people out of their boxes, freeing them from all their routine tasks and preset ideas.

Team members work on building their critical thinking skills in a variety of ways: crystallizing excess information, answering questions articulately, estimating numbers accurately, assessing situations from multiple perspectives, making associations more freely, scrutinizing issues and analyzing tasks with greater precision, and much more. And they’ll learn to do it in real-life speed—quickly!

Designed to be exceptionally easy to use, the exercises come with reproducible worksheets and step-by-step instructions, including tips on how to get the maximum benefit from each activity by linking it to the participants’ work. Two full-length self-assessments help users measure their current level of creative and analytical thinking skills.

The Critical Thinking Tool Kit offers an invigorating departure from the everyday—with the potential for big payoffs in the form of enhanced “on-your-feet” thinking, innovative problem-solving, and profitable idea generation from everyone on the team. In addition, the worksheets, transparencies, and handouts are available online, free for purchasers of the book to download.

Marlene Caroselli is the author of Leadership Skills for Managers , 500 Creative Classroom Techniques for Teachers and Trainers , and dozens of other books. She has trained employees and executives at many organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, the Department of Defense, and AlliedSignal.

About the Author

MARLENE CAROSELLI is the author of Leadership Skills for Managers , The Big Book of Meeting Games , and Great Session Openers, Closers, and Energizers . She has trained employees and executives at many organizations, including Lockheed-Martin, Mobil, Eastman Kodak, and Allied-Signal.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

FORMAT OF THE BOOK

The three most important aspects of critical thinking—quick thinking, creative thinking, and analytical thinking—are covered by a series of skill-building exercises.

Quick Thinking. What enables one person to respond to an unexpected prompt fluidly and flawlessly, while another person stumbles and mumbles and fumbles for words? Often the distinguishing factor is that one person does not practice thinking on one’s feet, while another person does. The practice exercises in this section are useful, but they are also entertaining. They will develop critical thinking skills—especially important in those situations that force us to keep our wits about us.

Creative Thinking. Unfortunately, many perfectly able problem-solvers damn themselves by declaring that they are not creative and should not be expected to come up with creative solutions. The truth is that we all have creative potential. We may have allowed the potential to be submerged, but it lies within us, nonetheless. The exercises in this section show participants how to strip away layers of self-doubt, self-criticism, and self-cynicism in order to rediscover their creative cores.

Analytical Thinking. Despite the plethora of problems confronting us on a daily basis, few of us have had formal training in problem-solving. The exercises in this section employ tools for solving problems logically (based on the scientific approach of defining the problem, generating a list of possible solutions, selecting a solution, and then implementing, evaluating, and making adjustments as needed). The Five-Why tool will force us as problem-solvers to uncover the root cause of the problem, which will lead to a solution that permits expedient and results-oriented action.

FORMAT OF THE EXERCISES

Each activity begins with an Overview or brief explanation of what the activity entails and its significance for critical thinkers.

This is followed by the Objective, which is written as an answer to the question, “What does this activity do?” Objectives are typically written from the facilitator’s or the participant’s perspective, but we have chosen to write these as clear statements of purpose.

The Supplies listed in the third entry are standard supplies for adult learning situations, inexpensive and readily available in most training rooms.

The Time listed is an approximation; it may vary according to the number of participants and their levels of expertise. Allow additional time for optional extended activities (designed to reinforce key points), or when using the debriefing questions that appear at the end of each activity. The activities can be expanded to considerably longer periods when these two optional elements are built in.

Complicated or excessive Advance Preparations sometimes discourage a facilitator from using specific activities. For this reason, activities have deliberately been kept simple and user-friendly.

The Participants/Applications section provides information on the ideal number of participants and the most appropriate times and places for the activity within the instructional sequence.

The actual lessons begin with an Introduction to Concept. These mini-lectures contain background information that permits easy transitions to the concepts being presented. They contain the text the facilitator can use or paraphrase to introduce the lesson. Examples are provided throughout the Introductions when illustrations are required.

The Procedure is a sequential listing of the steps to be followed as the activity is conducted. As simply as possible, the facilitator is given information essential to each exercise in order to maximize the effectiveness of the instructions.

Included in the Procedure are suggestions for Extending the Activity. These will help reinforce the concept being presented or the skill being reinforced, and can be used immediately following the activity or at a later time as a review or refresher exercise.

Workplace Connections are suggestions for extending the learning beyond the classroom. They encourage the facilitator and the participant to apply the lessons learned to other situations and expand upon the basic concepts presented.

Questions for Further Consideration have been included at the end of each activity in order to strengthen the application between training and the actual work that attendees do when they return to their offices or workplaces. The questions can be asked by the facilitator before the session begins (the list could be sent to attendees several days prior to the start of the course), during the session, or at the end of the session as a means of debriefing and achieving closure. Ideally attendees will continue to ask and answer these questions long after the training program itself has concluded. Three distinct groups of people within any organization will benefit from this book:

Trainers will enrich their presentations by including fast-paced, interactive exercises that stimulate both thought and group cohesiveness, regardless of the topic of the meeting or lecture.

Learners will benefit from exposure to a wide array of strategies for framing problems and formulating solutions.

Organizations will profit because improved thinking on the part of employees always leads to improved contributions. Intellectual capital that is not capitalized on represents the losses to which Dr. W. Edwards Deming refers: “The greatest losses are unknown and unknowable.”

Excerpted from THE CRITICAL THINKING TOOL KIT by Marlene Caroselli. Copyright © 2001 by HRD Press. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission.

All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008SLHJFC
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ AMACOM; 18951st edition (April 29, 2011)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 081441740X
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.47 x 11.02 inches

About the author

Marlene caroselli.

Dr. Marlene Caroselli is an author, keynoter, and corporate trainer. She has published over 60 books and countless curricula/article/speeches. Her books include "The Language of Leadership," named a Director's Choice by Doubleday Book Club, and "Principled Persuasion," named a Director's Choice by Doubleday Book Club upon its initial release. With the help of Bob Dylan's #1 fan, she has added ebooks to her repertoire.

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

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Russia’s limits on critical thinking are hitting its academic performance

Stricter political and administrative controls on what can be said have led to the creation of a pioneering ‘free university’, say katarzyna kaczmarska and dmitry dubrovsky.

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Recent months have seen heated debates in Russia about the limits of faculty and students’ rights to undertake public speaking and engage in political activism.

Lecturers at the prestigious  Higher School of Economics  (HSE), once considered Russia’s most liberal university, have spent the summer worrying that their criticisms of the political status quo might put an end to their teaching careers.

A master’s programme was apparently shut down when the university’s management realised that Yegor Zhukov – a prominent blogger and participant in the 2019 protests against fraudulent practices in the elections for the Moscow city parliament – was among the newly admitted cohort. He was also badly  beaten  just hours after he posted a video on YouTube explaining that he had been enrolled and then, less than two hours later, was crossed off a list of students admitted.

It has proved contentious for scholars to speak out in public and for students to engage in political activity at least since the 2019 protests. Zhukov was an undergraduate at the HSE when he was  arrested  following an unsanctioned opposition rally that summer. This led many fellow students, staff and alumni to express solidarity. However, though the management initially supported calls for Zhukov’s release, it later shifted to a policy seemingly designed to avoid future clashes with the state authorities.

In 2020, the university introduced new  internal regulations  requiring staff and students to refrain from using their university affiliations in public statements that could trigger “negative social reactions and/or have negative reputational consequences for the university”. Though these regulations are careful to emphasise that there are no restrictions on academics speaking out about their “research results” and matters of “professional competence”, keeping within the guidelines is likely to be difficult, particularly for those researching current social or political developments in Russia. This attempt to establish a boundary between “legitimate” academic research and “unacceptable” participation in public debate amounts to another way of silencing critically minded scholars.

After the journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva was  found guilty  in July of “justifying terrorism” when she dared to ask about the connection between the repressive political regime in Russia and a suicide bomb outside the Federal Security Service office in Arkhangelsk, several HSE employees produced a paper citing values such as “academic ethics” to delegitimise debate about terrorism and its causes. A few scholars  responded  by pointing out that such a stance could close down research into social phenomena such as terrorism, state terror, revolution and liberation movements.

The HSE has also decided not to extend the contracts of a number of academics for the coming academic year. Though the university’s management has defended its decision on grounds of efficiency and necessary restructuring, those adversely affected argue that the dismissals were motivated by an urge to get rid of those who were most  outspoken  and critical of the political system in Russia, including the abruptly amended  constitution .

The British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) published a  letter  this July in which the president shared his unease “about the integrity of the process by which decisions over continuing employment and terminations of contracts are taken” and emphasised that these developments undermine the HSE’s position as a close partner for scholars and universities in the UK. And Russia’s  University Solidarity  trade union  called for  a protest (using a hashtag translating as “you can’t shut us up”) against measures to punish scholars and students for their outspokenness.

Then, in late August, a group of scholars, including those whose contracts at HSE have not been renewed, issued a  manifesto  announcing the establishment of Russia’s first Free University and stating that one of their main goals is to free lecturers from excessive administrative pressures (among which they mean to include the pressure not to speak out).

Among the group is Gasan Guseynov, whose social media post last year criticising abuses of the Russian language by journalists and politicians  prompted  HSE management to look into whether it “violated academic ethics in public speaking”. This led to a committee’s  recommending  that Guseynov make a public apology for the “deliberate dissemination of ill-considered and irresponsible statements that have caused damage to the university’s reputation”.

All of this took place against a background of Russian universities failing to achieve the planned leap in international rankings; more and more insecure  employment contracts ; and  legislation  requiring that education in schools and universities should include not only knowledge and skills, but also spiritual and moral values.

A recent  analysis  of the obstacles to scientific progress in Russia concludes that research managers do not prioritise the creation of the kind of new scientific knowledge likely to be recognised by the international academic community. This study was authored by people close to Alexei Kudrin, who represents the liberal-leaning wing within the ruling elite.

What even this group fails to mention, however, is that the problem does not reside so much in management structures as in a political system that crushes creativity and punishes critical thinking and activism.

Katarzyna Kaczmarska is lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Edinburgh . Dmitry Dubrovsky is an associate research fellow at the Centre for Independent Social Research  in Russia.

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• 23 Mar 2024 Russian TV airs footage of terrorist attack suspects
• 23 Mar 2024 Interim summary
• 23 Mar 2024 Security experts see credibility in Islamic State claims of responsibility for attack
• 23 Mar 2024 US told Russia Islamic State was planning to attack Moscow - report
• 23 Mar 2024 Summary of the day …
• 23 Mar 2024 Death toll in Crocus City Hall terror attack rises to 133
• 23 Mar 2024 Three children still in hospital – one in critical condition
• 23 Mar 2024 Putin praises work of emergency services and bravery of people at Crocus City Hall
• 23 Mar 2024 Putin: all four attackers were detained while heading to Ukraine after attack
• 23 Mar 2024 Putin declares Sunday a national day of mourning
• 23 Mar 2024 Putin: Russian Federation will 'identify and punish everyone who prepared the terrorist attack'
• 23 Mar 2024 Podolyak: 'any attempts to connect Ukraine to the terrorist attack are absolutely untenable'
• 23 Mar 2024 Erdoğan condemns attack and says terror is 'the common enemy of humanity'
• 23 Mar 2024 Ukrainian military intelligence official: claim Ukraine linked to attack 'another lie' from Russia
• 23 Mar 2024 Russia’s FSB tries to link Ukraine to Moscow attack despite IS claiming responsibility
• 23 Mar 2024 Cameron: UK condemns Moscow attack 'in the strongest terms'
• 23 Mar 2024 Death toll in Crocus City Hall attack rises to 115
• 23 Mar 2024 Russia's FSB confirms it has arrested 11 suspects
• 23 Mar 2024 Crocus City Hall attack – what we know so far …
• 23 Mar 2024 Putin told some suspects detained as Crocus City Hall attack death toll rises to 93
• 23 Mar 2024 Kremlin: Putin has been told that 11 suspects have been detained
• 23 Mar 2024 107 people in hospital after Crocus City Hall attack – Russian state media
• 23 Mar 2024 Opening summary …

Here is a transcript of another part of Vladimir Putin ’s address to the nation, in which he compared the terror attack at Crocus City Hall to massacres carried out by Nazis, an allusion not just to the second world war but also a term the Russian president has frequently used to describe Ukraine’s government and Ukrainian forces during the course of the war there.

Putin said:

I repeat, investigative and law enforcement agencies will do everything to establish all the details of the crime. But it is already obvious that we are faced not just with a carefully cynically planned terrorist attack, but with a prepared and organized mass murder of peaceful, defenseless people. The criminals calmly and purposefully set out to kill, to shoot at point-blank range our citizens, our children. Just like the Nazis once carried out massacres in the occupied territories, they decided to stage a show execution, a bloody act of intimidation. All perpetrators, organizers and customers of this crime will suffer fair and inevitable punishment. Whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this attack on Russia, on our people. We know what the threat of terrorism is. We count here on interaction with all states that sincerely share our pain and are ready in practice to really join forces in the fight against a common enemy - international terrorism with all its manifestations. Terrorists, murderers, non-humans who do not and cannot have a nationality face one unenviable fate - retribution and oblivion. They have no future. Our common duty now: our comrades at the front, all citizens of the country, is to be together in one formation. I believe it will be so.

Putin praises work of emergency services and bravery of people at Crocus City Hall

In a video address to the Russian nation lasting about five-and-a-half minutes, Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the work of emergency services and the bravery of ordinary people caught up in the attack.

Describing it as a “bloody, barbaric terrorist act”, Putin said the victims were “dozens of peaceful, innocent people - our compatriots, including children, teenagers, and women.”

He went on to say:

Doctors are now fighting for the lives of the victims, those who are in serious condition. I am sure they will do everything possible and even impossible to preserve the life and health of all the wounded. Special words of gratitude to the ambulance and air ambulance crews, special forces soldiers, firefighters, rescuers who did everything to save people’s lives, bring them out from under the fire, from the epicentre of fire and smoke, and to avoid even greater losses. I cannot ignore the help of ordinary citizens who, in the first minutes after the tragedy, did not remain indifferent and indifferent and, along with doctors and security officers, provided first aid and delivered the victims to hospitals.

Putin: all four attackers were detained while heading to Ukraine after attack

In his address to the nation Russian president Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia believes it has apprehended all four men who directly staged the attack at the Crocus City Hall. He said they were all apprehended heading towards Ukraine.

All reports so far have suggested the arrests happened in Bryansk, a region to the south-west of Moscow heading towards the Russia-Ukraine border.

In his speech, Putin asserted that on the Ukrainian side they were preparing to receive the men. He said:

All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained. They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. A total of 11 people were detained. The Federal Security Service of Russia and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire accomplice base of terrorists: those who provided them with transport, outlined escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, caches of weapons and ammunition.

Earlier today Ukraine’s presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that the Russian account of events bore no relation to reality, saying the wanted men were moving towards “blocked border crossings where there is active fighting and where every metre is saturated with Russian security forces.”

Putin declares Sunday a national day of mourning

In his address to the nation, Vladimir Putin has declared that Sunday 24 March will be a national day of mourning.

Mourners have already gathered in many public places across Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including at the location of the Crocus City Hall attack itself where people have been bringing flowers and children’s toys to a makeshift memorial.

Putin: Russian Federation will 'identify and punish everyone who prepared the terrorist attack'

Russian president Vladimir Putin has made his first public comments since the Crocus City Hall attacks in a video address to the nation, offering condolences, and saying “The Russian Federation will identify and punish everyone who prepared the terrorist attack”.

On its Telegram channel, Tass quoted Putin saying:

The organizers of the terrorist attack were preparing a demonstrative execution and a bloody act of intimidation. The Russian Federation will identify and punish everyone who prepared the terrorist attack. Only retribution and oblivion await terrorists; they have no future. The common duty of Russians now is to be together as one, and so it will be. No one can shake the unity of Russian citizens. Russia has always become even stronger during the most difficult trials, and it will be so now. No one will be able to sow poisonous seeds of discord or panic and in Russia Russian intelligence services are working to identify terrorist accomplices, Putin said. The investigation will do everything to establish all the details of the terrorist attack, the president noted.

Erdoğan condemns attack and says terror is 'the common enemy of humanity'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday condemned the “heinous terrorist attack” in a Moscow concert hall that has left at least115 people dead.

“We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack targeting innocent civilians,” Erdoğan told a public rally in the capital Ankara.

“Terrorism is unacceptable no matter who it comes from or who the perpetrator is.”

AFP reports Erdoğan said Turkey shared Russia’s pain, adding: “We’ll continue to fight against terror, the common enemy of the humanity.”

Turkey’s president has exerted considerable diplomatic effort to attempt to mediate between Russia and Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Turkey was instrumental in helping broker a grain corridor deal.

Turkey has repeatedly launched attacks at Kurdish separatists which it considers to be terrorist groups inside Syria and Iraq.

Ukrainian military intelligence official: claim Ukraine linked to attack 'another lie' from Russia

Ukraine was not involved in Friday’s shooting attack near Moscow and suggestions of a Ukrainian link “have nothing in common with reality,” a spokesperson for Kyiv’s military spy agency said on Saturday.

Reuters reports Andriy Yusov , of the Ukrainian defence ministry’s main directorate of intelligence, told it: “This is of course another lie from the Russian special services, which has nothing in common with reality and does not stand up against any criticism.”

He went on to say “Ukraine was of course not involved in this terror attack. Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its own territory and is fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians.”

Sergey Sobyanin , the mayor of Moscow, has visited a hospital where people injured in the Crocus City Hall attack are being treated.

RIA quotes him saying at the Botkin hospital that “Today there are 80 people injured during the terrorist attack in Moscow clinics. The best Moscow doctors are fighting for their lives and health.”

Earlier reports had said more than 120 people were hospitalised.

RIA reports, citing the Moscow regional health authority, that two people who were hurt in the Crocus City Hall terror attack have been discharged from hospital.

• Moscow concert hall attack

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