Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on his Kremlin residence, The Washington Post reports.
The Kremlin press service disclosed news of the alleged attempt Wednesday afternoon in a statement shared with Russian news agencies.
“Tonight, the Kyiv regime attempted a drone strike on the Kremlin residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Two drones were aimed at the Kremlin,” it said.
“We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president of the Russian Federation, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 parade,” the statement continued. The Kremlin also said that Putin was not in the building during the alleged attack.
“Russia reserves the right to respond to an attempted strike on the Kremlin where and when it sees fit,” the statement concluded.
Though the assassination attempt could not be confirmed independently, Moscow residents reportedly heard two explosions go off behind Kremlin walls around 2 a.m. local time, according to The Daily Beast. Residents shared footage of a smoke cloud in the sky above the Kremlin to a local Telegram channel, uploaded to Twitter alongside another video of an explosion above the citadel by Eastern European media organization Nexta.
Serhii Nykyforov, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied the allegations in a statement Wednesday, Nexta reported.
“Separately surprised by the wording of the terrorist state. A terrorist attack is the houses destroyed in Dnipro and Uman, or the missile hit the train station in Kramatorsk and many other tragedies. And what happened in Moscow is obviously an escalation of the situation before May 9,” Nykyforov said.
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On Wednesday Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin banned flights of unmanned aerial vehicles without a special government permit in the city as Russia installs additional safety measures in preparation for its Victory Day festivities. The holiday commemorates the defeat of Nazi Germany in states of the former Soviet Union.
Russian officials had voiced concerns about attacks during the annual parade, calling for a limit on public events and, according to independent Russian media last week, prompting an order for utility workers to scour the city for drones and bombs ahead of the celebrations.
Victory Day events have reportedly been canceled across the country, the majority of them in Western Russia along the border with Ukraine.
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Tatyana Tandanpolie
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