Moscow, May 4, (dpa/GNA) - Russia has accused Ukraine of having tried to kill President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow and threatened retaliation, saying the alleged strike justified a response.
Ukrainian officials denied any involvement in the incident.
The Russian presidential office announced that two drones had been brought down early on Wednesday as they flew towards the Kremlin. Putin was unharmed, it said.
“We consider these actions a planned act of terrorism and attempt on the life of the President of the Russian Federation,” the Kremlin statement read. “The Russian side reserves the right to take countermeasures where and when it deems appropriate.”
Videos posted to social media overnight showed a small cloud of smoke near the Kremlin. Additional clips appeared to show the moment the drones were destroyed by air defences near the Kremlin.
Neither the videos nor Russian claims that Ukraine was behind the attack could be independently verified by dpa.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for fabricating the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.
“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow, we fight on our own territory, we are defending our villages and cities,” Zelensky said, speaking at a press conference in Helsinki.
He said Russia was making the attack up because it knows it has lost the war on Ukraine, which it launched just over 14 months ago.
Earlier, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak tweeted that his country is waging an exclusively defensive war and is not attacking targets on Russian territory.
“What for? This does not solve any military issue,” said Podoliak, adding that it could be used by Russia to justify attacks on civilians.
He suggested that a local Russian resistance group was likely behind the attack.
A spokesman for Zelensky, Serhii Nykyforov, also rejected Russian allegations of Ukrainian involvement.
“As President Zelensky has stated several times, all of Ukraine’s existing resources are aimed at liberating its own territory and not attacking foreign [territory],” he told the Ukrajinska Pravda news outlet.
The incident sparked widespread discussion in Russia.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called for the “physical elimination” of Zelensky. “After today’s terrorist act, there is no other variant than the physical elimination of Zelensky and his clique,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
The fact that two drones reached the Kremlin grounds raises questions about the state of Russian air defence, Duma deputy Sergei Mironov wrote on Telegram.
The head of the State Duma lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said, “We will demand the use of weapons capable of stopping and destroying the terrorist regime in Kiev.”
In Crimea meanwhile, Russia’s air defence shot down two unmanned drones over the Russian-occupied peninsula, reported state news agency TASS, citing local authorities.
A separate reported drone attack on a fuel depot in south-western Russia near Crimea caused a major fire, local Russian authorities said.
Attacks on infrastructure targets in the south of Russia have become more frequent in recent days and have been perceived by some as a potential prelude to a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at liberating territory under Russian occupation.
Russia, meanwhile, launched at least 26 drone attacks against targets in Ukraine overnight, according to Ukrainian officials. Most of the drones – 21 of the 26 – were intercepted by Ukrainian air defences.
Moscow’s shelling in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine left at least 21 people dead and 48 more injured, according to the region’s military governor, Oleksandr Prokudin.
The Ukrainian armed forces have begun their long-awaited offensive, according to the head of the Russian paramilitary force Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“They have soldiers and ammunition without end,” Prigozhin said on Telegram on Wednesday evening.
In the evening, the Ukrainian general staff spoke only of heavy fighting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, where forces from the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries are also stationed.
Prigozhin reported heavy losses among his troops in Bakhmut and accused the leadership in Moscow of letting his troops “starve without ammunition.”
Meanwhile Washington pledged a further $300 million worth of military aid to provide Kiev with additional ammunition for artillery rocket systems, artillery and tank ammunition, anti-tank weapons, rockets, small arms and ammunition.
“This latest package will help Ukraine continue to bravely defend itself in the face of Russia’s brutal, unprovoked, and unjustified war,” the State Department said in its statement.
GNA