Ukraine tried to kill Putin, claims Russia

Putin wasn't in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's State news agency RIA Novosti

Kyiv: Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early on Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. The Ukrainian President denied it, saying “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.” Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s State news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no independent verification of the reported attack on the Kremlin, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos of it also surfaced that late in the day. A video posted overnight on a local Moscow news Telegram channel, shot from across the river from the Kremlin, appeared to show smoke rising over the buildings. It wasn’t possible to ascertain its veracity. According to text accompanying the footage, residents of a nearby apartment building reported hearing bangs and seeing smoke around 2:30 am.

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The Kremlin said Russian military and security forces stopped the drones before they could strike. Nobody was hurt, it added. The Kremlin’s website said debris from the drones fell on the grounds of the Moscow landmark without damage. Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role in the attack. “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference.

Ukraine Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the claims would provide a pretext for Russia “to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, on infrastructure facilities” in the coming days. The Pentagon is looking into the alleged attacks, according to a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. American intelligence officials also were looking into the Russian claims but had not yet made a determination, according to a US official familiar with the matter. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing assessment.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington at a World Press Freedom Day event, said he had seen the reports but “I can’t in any way validate them. We simply don’t know.” He added: “I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt. So let’s see. We’ll see what the facts are and it’s really hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are.” The purported drone attack would be a significant escalation in the 14-month conflict, with Ukraine taking the war to the heart of Russian power.

Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, said, “It certainly wasn’t an attempt to assassinate Putin, because he doesn’t sleep in the roof and he probably never sleeps in the Kremlin.” He added it was too soon to prove or disprove whether it was a Russian attempt “either to make Ukraine look reckless or to buck up Russian public opinion” or if it was a Ukrainian operation to embarrass Russia. The alleged attack immediately prompted calls in Russia from pro-Kremlin figures in Russia to carry out assassinations on senior leadership in Ukraine.

The Kremlin claimed the attack was planned to disrupt Victory Day, which Russia celebrates in Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Peskov said the parade would take place as scheduled. Shortly before the news about the alleged attack broke, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a ban on using drones in the Russian capital, with an exception for drones launched by authorities. Sobyanin didn’t offer any reason for the ban, saying only that it would prevent the “illegal use of drones that can hinder the work of law enforcement.” Zelenskyy was in Finland to secure greater firepower for his armed forces as they figure out how to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas of Ukraine.