The residence of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was the target of an attempted attack by a swarm of Ukrainian drones Sunday night and Monday morning, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. Ukraine conducted the attack “using 91 long-range UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles] against the Russian president’s state residence in the Novgorod region,” Lavrov said, stating that all the drones were shot down by Russian air defence systems. “Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” he added, noting that Russia would retaliate and that the attack would have consequences in ongoing peace negotiations.
Ukraine denied having conducted the attack. “This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war,” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on X. “Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy. To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us.”
The dispute comes at an unfortunate time for President Donald Trump, who has been working to finalize a Russia–Ukraine peace agreement to bring an end to the war. The president, who met with Zelensky in Florida on Sunday to hammer out details on a proposed settlement, said just before the talks that peace negotiations are in their “final stages.” Trump had spoken by phone with Putin earlier the same day.
Trump spoke to Putin again Monday morning, after the alleged attack, in what the White House described as “a positive call,” but concrete advances in the peace process have so far remained elusive for the president.
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