By Tim Lister and Darya Tarasova
(NCS) — The Kremlin has dismissed calls to offer evidence to help its claim that Ukraine launched an attack utilizing dozens of drones in opposition to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences.
But on Tuesday, it repeated that the drone assault passed off within the Novgorod area, south of St. Petersburg, saying that denials amounted to “insane assertions.”
US President Donald Trump stated Putin advised him of the alleged attack in a cellphone name early Monday. Trump indicated that he took Putin at his phrase earlier than acknowledging the attack might not have occurred.
Trump has been making an attempt to advance peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, but there are nonetheless broad variations between the 2 sides.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Tuesday the alleged operation was a “terrorist attack” aimed toward “sabotaging President Trump’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.”
However, some Western governments and unbiased analysts have forged doubt on the claim.
There have been no reviews from residents of the realm – within the Novgorod area of northwestern Russia – of drone exercise on the time the attack was alleged to have taken place.
The closely fortified Valdai presidential residence is located on the shores of Lake Valdai.
Nor has any social media video been posted, which is uncommon when a considerable attack is carried out removed from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky instantly rejected the claimed drone attack as “a complete fabrication” by Russia.
“Russia is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team. We keep working together to bring peace closer,” Zelensky posted on X.
“Almost a day passed and Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence,’” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated Tuesday.
“And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened,” Sybiha posted on X.
Lithuania, a NATO member bordering northwestern Russia, known as Moscow’s claim a false flag operation aimed toward justifying potential strikes on Ukraine.
“The circumstances of this alleged strike do not conform to the pattern of observed evidence when Ukrainian forces conduct strikes into Russia,” commented the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, noting the absence of video of air protection operations or statements from native and regional Russian authorities.
“ISW has not observed any such footage nor local or regional reporting about Ukrainian strikes near Putin’s residence to corroborate Lavrov’s claim,” it stated.
The unbiased Russian media outlet Agentstvo famous Tuesday that the top of the Valdai district had held a dwell broadcast at 5 p.m. native time Monday, when he didn’t point out any attack.
Agentstvo stated it was additionally unable to seek out reviews of any drone assaults within the public social media channels of the 14,000-strong city of Valdai, situated 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the residence.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was the primary to air the claim, hours after Zelensky met with Trump. He asserted that 91 drones had been taken down but there had been no injury.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that within the interval when the alleged attack occurred, from Sunday evening into Monday morning, solely 41 UAVs have been taken down over the Novgorod area.
Lavrov stated that “Russia’s negotiating position will be revised” in ongoing peace negotiations and the Russian navy had chosen targets for “retaliatory strikes.”
On a media name Tuesday, Peskov was requested whether or not there was any bodily evidence of the attack.
“I don’t think there needs to be any kind of ‘evidence’ here, given that such a massive drone raid took place and that, thanks to the well‑coordinated work of our air defenses, they were shot down and neutralized,” Peskov stated.
“Zelensky himself is trying to deny it, and many Western media outlets, playing along with the Kyiv regime, are starting to push the line that this supposedly never happened. But these are insane, insane assertions.”
“Although the Russians are spreading fakes to justify their strikes on Ukraine and the further prolongation of this war, the world’s key intelligence services must have the real information,” Zelensky added in another X post, following conversations with European leaders later on Monday.
Putin knowledgeable Trump in regards to the alleged drone attack in a name between the 2 leaders on Monday, and he advised the US president that Russia was reviewing its place on peace negotiations consequently, in accordance with Russian state radio, citing a name with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov claimed that Trump was “shocked” and “outraged” by the report he acquired from Putin, Russian state radio reported.
Asked in regards to the alleged Ukrainian attack forward of a gathering with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump advised reporters Monday, “I don’t like it. It’s not good.”
Trump stated that when Putin advised him in regards to the alleged attack, “I was very angry about it.”
In response to a reporter’s query, Trump added: “You’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place. It’s possible, too, I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did.”
Asked if US intelligence companies had evidence of such an attack, Trump stated: “We’ll find out.”
The-NCS-Wire
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NCS’s Daria Tarasova-Markina and Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.