In what Moscow has termed an attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s life, the Kremlin claims that Ukraine conducted a night-time drone attack on the Kremlin last night. The Kremlin reveals that Putin was not in Moscow at the time.
Today, Russian news agencies reported that, according to the Kremlin, two drones were destroyed “using electronic warfare systems.” No casualties nor damage to buildings have been recorded.
The Kremlin considers the action a planned assassination attempt and thus a “terrorist act.” It marks the first time that Russia has accused Ukraine of attacking Moscow.
At the time of the alleged attack, it has been disclosed, Putin was in Novo-Ogarjovo, an estate to the Russian capital’s west. The attack did not disrupt the Russian leader’s plans for the day, with his scheduled appointments proceeding as planned.
According to Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied any Ukrainian involvement, telling a press conference in Helsinki: “We don’t attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory.”
A senior Ukrainian presidential official floated the false flag theory, saying that the incident instead suggested Moscow was preparing a major “terrorist provocation,” which it could ostensibly use as a pretext for ramping up its war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the BBC, Mick Mulroy, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense and CIA officer, said that if reports of the drone incident were true, it was “‘unlikely’ to be an assassination attempt as Ukraine tracks President Putin’s movements closely and he was not in Moscow at the time.” He continued,
This may have been to show the Russian people that they can be hit anywhere and that the war they started in Ukraine may eventually come home to Russia, even the capital.
If the reports were not accurate, however, “Russia may be fabricating this to use as a pretext to target President Zelensky. Something they have tried to in the past,” according to Mulroy.
Shortly after the Kremlin’s accusation that Kyiv was behind the drone attack, air alarms rang out all across Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities reported missile strikes on Ukraine’s Cherson region. During these attacks, which hit a train station and a supermarket among other facilities, 16 people were reportedly killed and 22 people wounded.
The region’s capital, which is close to the front lines, has announced a curfew for next weekend that will go into effect starting Friday.
While it is unclear whether the attacks are part of a Russian response to the Moscow attack, the Kremlin had earlier made it clear that it reserves for itself the right to retaliate.
Though the perpetrators behind the drone attack remain unknown, there had been speculation for some time about Kyiv planning an attack deep into Russian territory. In January this year, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, General Kyrylo Budanov, announced that there would be such attacks in the future. Without going into more detail, he stated in an interview with U.S. broadcaster ABC News that Ukrainian strikes would start to land “deeper and deeper” in Russian territory.
