Russia has on Wednesday, accused Ukraine of a failed attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel in Moscow, and threatened to retaliate.
A senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with Kyiv, denied any role in the reported incident, calling it a sign that the Kremlin was planning a major new attack on Ukraine.
Shortly after the Kremlin announcement, Ukraine reported alerts for air strikes over the capital Kyiv and other cities.
“Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president’s life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned,” it said.
It states that fragments of drones were scattered in the Kremlin grounds but there were no injuries or damage and Putin himself was safe.
“The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” the statement notes.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Kyiv had nothing to do with the incident: “We do not attack the Kremlin because, first of all, it does not resolve any military tasks.”
Podolyak said the accusation, along with a separate announcement that Russia had caught suspected saboteurs in Crimea, “clearly indicates the preparation of a large scale terrorist provocation by Russia in the coming days”.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the influential speaker of Russia’s parliament, demanded the use of “weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime” in response to the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his remarks quoted by the Washington Post, said Washington was unable to validate reports of the drone strike, but that he would regard anything coming from the Kremlin “with a very large shaker of salt”.
Reuters.
Writing by Julian Osamoto