Kremlin: "We will retaliate against the attempt to kill Putin"

Russia yesterday accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel in Moscow and threatened to retaliate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had nothing to do with the incident that allegedly happened during the night. "We are not attacking Putin or Moscow, we are fighting for our territory," Zelenski said.

A senior associate of Zelenskiy called the accusations a sign that the Kremlin is planning a new major attack on Ukraine. Shortly after the Kremlin's announcement, Ukraine sounded the alert for an airstrike in Kiev and other cities.

Russia claims that two drones targeted the Kremlin, but that they were disabled in time.

"We consider these actions to be a planned act of terrorism and an attempt to kill the president, carried out on the eve of Victory Day and the May 9 parade, when the presence of foreign guests is planned." It is stated that parts of the drones were scattered in the Kremlin, but that there were no injuries or damage.

Putin is safe, and the RIA agency announced that he was not in the Kremlin at the time of the attack, but was in his residence in Novo Ogaryovo outside Moscow. "The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures when and where it deems it adequate," the Kremlin said.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced on a social network that after the drone attack, Moscow had no choice but to "eliminate" Zelensky and his "clique" in Kiev.

A video released by Baza, a Telegram channel linked to Russian security agencies, shows a flying object approaching the dome of a Kremlin building and exploding before reaching it.

In another video, smoke can be seen above the golden domes of the Kremlin. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the footage.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the "Washington Post" that the US could not confirm reports of a drone attack.

The adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mihailo Podoljak, said that the accusations, together with the announcement that Russia had captured suspected saboteurs in the Crimea region, "are clear indicators of the preparation of a large-scale Russian terrorist provocation in the coming days."

"Financial Times" recalls that in recent months, Ukraine has carried out a series of bold attacks behind enemy lines, targeting fuel depots and military bases, some of which are located several hundred kilometers inside Russian territory.

Ruslan Pukov, director of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, said that the drones could have been purchased and equipped with explosives. He said that some Ukrainian group working secretly in Russia could launch drones from Moscow and thus avoid being detected because they would fly shorter.

He said that the fact that a smaller number of drones were used indicates that it is probably not an attack that is behind the state.

Ukraine also has the capacity to send a drone all the way to Moscow, a Ukrainian engineer who makes drones with military characteristics told the FT. "It is not difficult to make a drone with a range of 800 kilometers, directing it is a difficult task," he said.

Earlier this year, photos of two "armored" air defense systems were published in the Kremlin, as well as in the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow. Russia has also installed "body armor" in Putin's house outside Moscow, his residence in the north of the country as well as in the ski resort where he spends a lot of time.