Moscow’s allegations from Wednesday Ukraine claimed to have flown two drones at the Kremlin overnight in an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president was not present, says Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin.
The attack was stopped, and the alleged drones were destroyed, according to the Kremlin. Their fragmentation and fall caused no injuries, according to state broadcaster RIA Novosti.
Ukraine says it had no knowledge of any attempted drone strike on the Kremlin, that it did not attack other countries. “We do not have information on so called night attacks on Kremlin,” the spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sergiy Nykyforov, told CNN on Wednesday.
“As President Zelensky has stated numerous times before, Ukraine uses all means at its disposal to free its own territory, not to attack others,” Nykyforov added.
A still image taken from unverified footage circulating on social media appears to show the moment of the attack, including a flash and some smoke in the vicinity of the Kremlin. CNN is not yet able to verify the video.
The Kremlin Press Service called the purported drone attack an “attempt on the President’s life.” “Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” it added.
Russia referred to the incident as an “act of terrorism,” blaming Ukraine.
Kyiv said that accusation was better directed at Russia. “A terror attack is destroyed blocks of residential buildings in Dnipro and Uman, or a missile at a line at Kramatorsk rail station and many other tragedies,” said Nykyforov, the Ukrainian presidential spokesman.
“What happened in Moscow is obviously about escalating the mood on the eve of May 9.” That day is known as “Victory Day” inside Russia, commemorating the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II.
“It’s a trick to be expected from our opponents,” he said.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also denied Kyiv had any involvement and said it made no sense for Ukraine to have carried out the alleged strike.
“First of all, it absolutely does not solve any military goals. And it is very unhelpful in the context of preparing for our offensive actions. And it definitely does not change anything at a battlefield,” he said. “This would allow Russia to justify mass strikes on Ukrainian cities, civilians and infrastructure facilities. Why would we need that? What’s the logic?”
Podolyak also said Moscow’s claims were an attempt at controlling the narrative ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“Russia without a doubt is very afraid of Ukraine starting an offensive on the front line and is trying to seize the initiative, distract the attention and create distractions of a catastrophic nature,” he said. “So, Russian statements on such staged operations need to be taken as an attempt to create pretext for a large-scale terrorist attack in Ukraine.”
A US official said Washington had no warning about the alleged drone attack. “Whatever happened, there was no advanced warning,” the official told CNN, adding that authorities are still trying to find out more.
Another US official told CNN they are still working to assess Russia’s claims, and have not yet validated the Kremlin assertion that Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had seen reports from Moscow about the alleged attack, but “can’t in any way validate them.”
“We simply don’t know,” Blinken said Wednesday at a Washington Post Live event.
“We’ll see what the facts are. And it’s really hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are,” Blinken added.
Kyiv is approximately 862 kilometers (about 535 miles) from Moscow. Russia has accused Ukraine of multiple attempted drone strikes deep inside Russian territory, including one earlier this year when the governor of the Moscow region claimed a Ukrainian drone had crashed near the village of Gubastovo, southeast of the capital.