Russia claimed on Wednesday that Ukraine had fired two drones towards the Kremlin in an effort to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The attack came prior to the annual Russia victory day celebrations on May 9. Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II every year.
Putin’s office released multiple surveillance footage that show an aerial object flying towards the palatial complex before detonating, alleging that the drones “were put out of action” by Russia’s “military and special services.”
Putin was at a different property close to Moscow at the time, but the incident was nevertheless deemed to be “a planned terrorist act and attempt on the life of” Putin by the organization, international media reported.
However, Ukraine denied any connection with the incident and said conducting such a strike would not align with Kyiv’s interests.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the Kremlin’s claims as a “predictable” facade to justify “a large-scale terrorist attack” in Ukraine.
“First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation. What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives [Russia] grounds to justify its attacks on civilians,” Mykhailo Podolyak, who regularly posts online on behalf of Zelenskyy’s government, wrote on Twitter.
“Secondly, we are watching with interest the growing number of mishaps and incidents that are taking place in different parts of [Russia]. The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerilla activities of local resistance forces,” Podolyak added.
