Russia has accused Ukraine of trying to assassinate Vladimir Putin with a drone strike. The Kremlin said it considered the alleged attack to be a “planned terrorist action” and reserves the right to retaliate.
According to the Sun, Authorities in Moscow claim two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the presidential residence, where Putin is known to increasingly live during the war, at about 2.30 am.
Extraordinary unverified footage appears to show the moment of a drone striking the Senate Palace, with flames and smoke seen coming from the building.
Residents of Stalinist House on the Embankment said they “saw sparks in the sky and people with flashlights near the Kremlin wall after the thunderclaps”. The Kremlin said it considered the attack to be a “planned terrorist action” by Ukraine, RIA reported.
It said two drones had been used in the alleged attack, but were disabled by Russian defences. Putin, 70, was not in the fortress at the time of the alleged incident, the Kremlin said, and was not injured.
The Kremlin said that the May 9 Victory Day parade would go ahead in Moscow despite the incident, the state-run TASS news agency reported. It comes just days after it was claimed Kyiv tried to kill Putin using a drone packed with explosives.
According to the Daily Beast, The Kremlin, describing the incident as a “planned terrorist attack” and “assassination attempt on the president of Russia,” is now threatening to take “retaliatory measures.”
A spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that the country was behind any attack on the Kremlin and accused Moscow of deliberately “escalating the situation ahead of May 9,” when Russia routinely flaunts its military prowess to mark Victory Day.
“Separately, the phrasing by the terrorist state is surprising. A terrorist attack is houses destroyed in Dnipro and Uman, or a rocket attack on a railway station in Kramatorsk, and many other tragedies,” Zelensky spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said.
The alleged assassination attempt comes after Russia’s pro-war hawks have spent months demanding the military unleash more brutal attacks against Ukraine, claiming military commanders have been held back from doing so.
Many Russian lawmakers on Wednesday seized on news of the incident at the Kremlin to re-up that demand. “Terrorists have settled in Kyiv, and, as you know, negotiations with them are meaningless.
Astonishing footage of last night's drone attack on the Kremlin pic.twitter.com/3rghCHdIed
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 3, 2023
They need only to be destroyed, quickly and mercilessly. It’s time to launch a missile attack on Zelensky’s residence in Kyiv,” United Russia lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet said in comments to Russian state media. “I’m ready to give the coordinates: 11 Bankova Street, where the so-called administration of the president of Ukraine is located.”
Kremlin propagandists also burst into hysterics, with Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT, suggesting on Telegram that the alleged attack is just the pretext Moscow needs to go scorched earth on Ukraine: “Maybe now it will start for real?”
It is unclear how a Ukrainian drone could have made it through Russia’s air defenses and into the heart of the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Wednesday banned drone flights in the city without a special government permit.
The incident comes just days before Russia’s main Victory Day parade on Red Square, an event that authorities reportedly fear could be disrupted by drone attacks. Independent Russian media reported last week that utility workers have been ordered to patrol the streets of Moscow in search of any bombs or drones ahead of the event.
