RUSSIA: Russia has blamed Ukraine of trying to assassinate President Vladimir Putin by using drones to target his residence in the Kremlin in central Moscow.
The presidential office said defense forces took down two drones overnight. Putin’s spokesman said the Russian leader had not been in the complex at the time.
Unverified footage on social media appeared to show an object flying over the Kremlin before a small explosion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky denied his country was behind it.
Speaking on a visit to Finland, he said Ukraine had not attacked Putin or Moscow and was instead fighting on its own territory.
Meanwhile a Ukrainian presidential adviser told media that the reported incident indicated Russia could be “preparing a large-scale provocation” in Ukraine.
The two countries frequently trade accusations and denials since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Russia said the two drones targeting the Kremlin – a large government complex in central Moscow – were disabled using electronic radar assets.
One video on social media showed smoke rising over the fortified complex, and in another a small explosion was visible above the Kremlin Senate building, while two men appeared to clamber up the dome.
In a statement, the Russian presidency said, “Last night, the Kyiv regime attempted to carry out a strike on the Kremlin residence of the President of the Russian Federation with unmanned aerial vehicles.”
It said it regarded this “as a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president”, and Russia “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures wherever and whenever is deemed necessary”.
Fragments of the drones had fallen on the Kremlin site but no-one had been hurt and there was no damage to buildings, the presidency said.
The incident had come shortly before Russia’s 9 May Victory Day parade, which foreign dignitaries were expected to attend.
