Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected Russia’s claim that his country carried out an attack on a residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov claimed on Monday that the attack had taken place on Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia’s Novgorod region with 91 long-range strike drones.
Lavrov said that air defence systems shot down the drones and that no one was injured.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the strike took place on Sunday, “practically immediately after” talks held in Florida between United States President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy on negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy quickly rejected Moscow’s claim and accused Russia of attempting to derail the peace talks.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha also condemned Moscow’s allegation, saying it was aimed at undermining the negotiations.
In a post on X, Sybiha said the claim was intended “to create a pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine, as well as to undermine and impede the peace process”.
Russia said it would reassess its negotiating position in light of the alleged attack, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova warning that Moscow’s response “would not be diplomatic”.
Later on Monday, Trump said that Putin had told him during a phone call that Ukraine had attempted to attack the Russian president’s residence.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said Putin raised the allegation during their call.
“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump said when asked whether the claim could affect his efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. “I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
When asked whether there was evidence to support the allegation, Trump said, “We’ll find out.”
The United Arab Emirates’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly condemned” what it said was an “attempt to target” Putin’s residence.
The ministry affirmed the UAE’s solidarity with Russia in a statement and denounced the “deplorable attack”.
