Was Vladimir Putin the victim of a drone assassination attempt? In any case, this is what the Kremlin claims, which claims to have shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the president. As a security measure, Moscow directly decreed, on Wednesday, May 3, the prohibition of drone flights over the city, except with government authorization.
On the night of Tuesday 2 to Wednesday 3 May, “two drones that were targeting the Kremlin” were “disabled through the use of radar systems”, according to the Russian Presidency. “We see these actions as an attempted terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president” Vladimir Putin, added the Kremlin, specifying that the latter had not been injured.
The Speaker of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament has called for “destroying” the Ukrainian government. “There can be no negotiations with the regime of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky. We will demand the use of weapons capable of stopping and destroying the terrorist regime in kyiv,” Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Telegram.
Ukraine “has nothing to do” with the drone attack on the Kremlin, the Ukrainian presidency immediately defended. “Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the drone attacks on the Kremlin,” Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a message to reporters.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has also denied any Ukrainian attack targeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “We didn’t attack Putin. We leave it to the court. We are fighting on our territory, we are defending our villages and our cities,” the Ukrainian head of state said during a press conference in Helsinki with leaders of northern European countries.
The United States said it takes “very cautiously” Russia’s statements. “I saw the news. I can’t validate them, we don’t know,” said US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken. But, he added, “I will take anything that comes out of the Kremlin very carefully.”
A video posted by some Russian media on social media showed a plume of smoke rising above the Kremlin overnight. It was not immediately possible to verify these independent source images. According to the Russian presidency, “there were no casualties or damage caused by the falling and scattering of the fragments” of drones on the Kremlin.
If drones have already crashed in the Moscow region in recent months, this is the first time that an incursion attributed to Ukraine has occurred in the heart of the Russian capital, located some 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. .
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, however announced on Wednesday that the big military parade in Red Square in Moscow, the main event, would go ahead as planned, despite the attack on the Kremlin.
Incidents involving drones have multiplied in recent months in Russia, targeting military bases or energy infrastructure. Moscow accuses kyiv of being behind these attacks, but the Ukrainian authorities do not claim them.
Consult our file: War in Ukraine
