Russia has announced that its latest missile system capable of carrying nuclear weapons has been deployed in Belarus, a day after Moscow claimed that Ukraine carried out a large-scale drone attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the British newspaper The Guardian reports today.
Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry shows the new Oreshnik missile making its way through a snowy forest. Soldiers are seen camouflaged combat vehicles with green netting and raising a flag at an air base in eastern Belarus, near the Russian border.
The video appeared to be part of a staged attempt to intimidate Europe and prepare the Russians for further escalation in the already brutal war against Ukraine, according to the Guardian.
The media outlet states that the deployment symbolically shortens the time it would take for a Russian missile to hit the capital of the European Union (EU).
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said ten Oreshnik systems would be stationed in his country. Putin announced they were entering active service at a meeting with his generals on Monday, where he reaffirmed his intention to seize more Ukrainian territory, including the southern city of Zaporozhye.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that "retaliation" would be carried out against Kiev, noting that targets were already prepared. He said this followed the attack on Sunday evening, which allegedly involved 91 Ukrainian drones targeting the Russian presidential palace in the Novgorod region.
The Kremlin, however, has failed to offer evidence to support the allegations. Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday that no evidence would be offered, as all the missiles had been shot down. He added that he could not comment on the lack of wreckage.
Local residents living in the area said they heard no explosions or sounds of air defenses, independent Russian media outlet Sota reported. No airstrikes were declared, and no mobile phone footage of smoke and fire — a common feature of confirmed hits — has surfaced online, according to the Guardian.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha said on Tuesday that Russia had fabricated the whole story and called on other countries to ignore it.
"It's been almost a day, and Russia still hasn't offered a single convincing piece of evidence for its accusations. And it won't. Because there isn't any. No such attack happened," he wrote on the X network.
He did not criticize United States (US) President Donald Trump, who on Monday angrily supported the Russian version of events and said that Putin had told him about the attack in a phone call.
"It's one thing to be offensive, because they are offensive. But it's another to attack his house. It's not the right time for that," Trump said.
Sibiha expressed irritation towards India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates after they said they were concerned about the reports.
"Such reactions to unfounded, manipulative Russian claims only play into Russian propaganda and encourage Moscow to commit even more crimes and lies," he said.
Ukrainian commanders said Russian kamikaze drones regularly fly over a state palace used by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his way to the capital.
An officer, commander of the 112th Territorial Defense Unit, said his team shot down two drones over the state residence in Koncha-Zaspa, south of Kyiv, on Saturday.
"Whenever there is a large-scale attack, they fly over our area. There are always Shahids (drones). Quite often we shoot them down right here," the soldier told the Guardian. He also shared a video showing an enemy drone flying low over the white winter sky.
Ukrainians want the focus to remain on continuing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, following Zelensky's two-hour meeting with Trump in Florida on Sunday. The two leaders discussed a 20-point peace plan under which the US would offer Kiev post-war security guarantees that would be voted on by Congress.
There has been no progress on the future of the eastern Donbas region, which Putin says must be handed over to Russia. Zelensky has rejected the possibility of ceding territory to Russia. He has proposed a demilitarized zone, which could be confirmed in a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days.
Zelensky said the Russians were spreading "fake news" because of his "quite successful conversation and meeting" with Trump over the weekend, as well as the progress made by the US and Ukrainian delegations in recent weeks. Russia, he added, was making the accusations because it did not want "any positive outcome for anyone in this format."
The Ukrainian president is scheduled to meet with European allies in France on January 6 at a conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders will discuss the European contribution to the peacekeeping operation. A follow-up meeting of European heads of state with Trump and his White House team in Washington is likely to follow.
Commentators have assessed that American security promises are meaningless if Trump is willing to accept everything the Russian president tells him.
"If the potential monitoring of the ceasefire is carried out by the same personnel who now believe what Russia is saying - we are in serious trouble," said Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, according to the Guardian.
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