Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that his country carried out an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, which Russia says was an attack on President Vladimir Putin’s life.
“We do not attack Putin or Moscow,” he said while talking about his visit to Finland. We fight on our land. We are defending our villages and cities.
The Russian president’s office said the defense shot down two drones overnight.
He threatened retaliation when and where deemed necessary.
Unverified footage circulating online showed smoke billowing over the Kremlin – a large government complex in central Moscow – early Wednesday. Another video shows a small explosion atop the site’s Senate building, while two men are seen climbing the dome.
The Russian presidency said Ukraine had attempted to attack Mr Putin’s residence in the Kremlin, calling it “a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president”.
Two drones targeting the complex were disabled using electronic radar assets, officials said, adding that President Putin was not at the complex at the time of the alleged attack.
But Ukraine has said the Russian accusations are just a pretext for large-scale attacks on its territory, and the United States says it is treating the Russian claims very carefully.
Mr Putin appears to be one of the world’s most closely guarded leaders. Putin’s events in Moscow, attended by JEE News journalists, have been heavily guarded, with extensive checks and long convoys of vehicles blocking airspace and stopping traffic.
However, if what the Kremlin is saying is true, it will raise questions about how safe the president really is.
The effectiveness of Russian air defenses will also be scrutinized. In recent months, anti-aircraft systems have been spotted on Moscow rooftops around key buildings.
They are placed there because the Kremlin is concerned that Ukraine, or those sympathetic to Ukraine, may attempt to launch airstrikes against high-value targets.
Whatever happened on Wednesday morning, the question now is how Russia will respond. Some officials have already called for tougher action. Russian generals have repeatedly warned that any attack on Russian soil would be met with a strong response.
But it is unclear whether Russia has the capability to launch a meaningful counterattack, or whether the incident will lead to any significant escalation of the battlefield inside Ukraine.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser told JEE News that the incident showed Russia was preparing “massive terrorist provocations” in Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podoliak said an attack on Moscow would make no sense to Ukraine but would help Russia justify its attacks on civilian targets.
Drones flying anywhere in Russia are shot down for “guerrilla activities of local resistance forces,” he said.
“Something is happening in the RF [Russian Federation], but certainly without Ukrainian drones over the Kremlin,” Mr. Podoliak said.
