Ukraine “had nothing to do” with the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian presidency has responded in its defence.
The attack, with video footage, appears to have been targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been blamed by Moscow on Kyiv.
“Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the drone attacks on the Kremlin,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, told journalists in a press conference.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia announced it had shot down two Ukrainian drones attempting to attack the Kremlin in Moscow, calling it an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin, just days before the big 9 May military parade.
“Such comments staged by Russia should only be seen as an attempt to prepare a context” that could be used as a pretext “for a large-scale terrorist attack in Ukraine,” Mykhailo Podolyak said.
For him, if such an attack on Russian territory were to be carried out by Kyiv “would not solve any military problem” when Moscow still controls nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory. It would also mark the first attack on Russian soil since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“On the contrary, it would incite Russia to even more radical actions against our civilian population,” he argued on Wednesday.
"We are watching with interest the growing number of mishaps and incidents that are taking place in different parts of Russian Federation. The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities, or on Kremlin’s territory, can only indicate the guerilla activities of local resistance forces," Podolyak stated on social media. "As you know, drones can be bought at any military store."
According to this adviser to Volydymyr Zelensky, Moscow “is extremely afraid of the start of Ukraine’s offensives along the front line and is trying in some way to take the initiative, to divert attention.”
For several months, Ukraine has said it wants to carry out a major offensive to retake Russian-occupied areas in the south and east of its territory.
In recent days, Kyiv has said that preparations for such an assault, expected in the spring by analysts, were “nearing completion.”
