MOSCOW: Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday and released a video purportedly showing a flying object exploding near the Kremlin Senate dome and smoke rising over 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 2.30am (local time). The Kremlin said that the drones had targeted the Russian president’s official residence, calling it “a planned terrorist attack and an attempt on the life of the president.” Russia reserved the right to retaliate, it added. The Kremlin added that 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.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role in the attack. “We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference. Dealing with Putin, he added, would be left to an international tribunal. Before Russia’s drone attack claims, Zelenskyy had told a Helsinki news conference that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is coming “very soon”. This year “will be decisive… for victory,” he said.
Besides Zelenskyy, other Ukrainian officials categorically denied Russia’s claim. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, suggested in a statement to NYT that Russia would use the claim to launch a “large-scale terrorist provocation” against Ukraine in the coming days.
The Pentagon is looking into the alleged attacks, according to a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The US intelligence agencies too are trying to determine what actually happened, according to two US officials briefed on the situation. US secretary of state Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington, 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.”
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”. 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. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the parade would take place as scheduled. He added that Putin was safe and wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time of the attack.
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”.
There have been a string of drone strikes and acts of sabotage on Russian territory since Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, including a car bombing outside Moscow that killed the daughter of a prominent pro-war Russian commentator last August. Ukraine denied involvement in the car bombing at the time, but US intelligence agencies believe that parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the attack.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role in the attack. “We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference. Dealing with Putin, he added, would be left to an international tribunal. Before Russia’s drone attack claims, Zelenskyy had told a Helsinki news conference that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is coming “very soon”. This year “will be decisive… for victory,” he said.
Besides Zelenskyy, other Ukrainian officials categorically denied Russia’s claim. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, suggested in a statement to NYT that Russia would use the claim to launch a “large-scale terrorist provocation” against Ukraine in the coming days.
The Pentagon is looking into the alleged attacks, according to a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The US intelligence agencies too are trying to determine what actually happened, according to two US officials briefed on the situation. US secretary of state Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington, 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.”
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”. 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. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the parade would take place as scheduled. He added that Putin was safe and wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time of the attack.
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”.
There have been a string of drone strikes and acts of sabotage on Russian territory since Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, including a car bombing outside Moscow that killed the daughter of a prominent pro-war Russian commentator last August. Ukraine denied involvement in the car bombing at the time, but US intelligence agencies believe that parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the attack.