Ukraine emphatically denied a Russian allegation Monday that a Ukrainian drone attack targeted one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences.
President Donald Trump said Putin told him of the alleged attack in a phone call early Monday. Trump indicated that he took Putin at his word before allowing, in response to a reporter’s question about the Ukrainian denial, that the attack may not have occurred.
As a result of the alleged attack in the Novgorod region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who first publicly aired the allegation, said “Russia’s negotiating position will be revised” in the ongoing peace talks seeking to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Lavrov said no damage or casualties resulted from the incident but that the Russian military has selected targets for “retaliatory strikes.”
He appeared to be referring to the heavily fortified Valdai presidential residence, which is situated on the shores of Lake Valdai in Novgorod Oblast in northwestern Russia. Lavrov did not claim that Putin was in Novgorod at the time.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately rejected the claimed drone attack as “a complete fabrication” from Russia.
Zelensky pointed out that the claim came a day after he met with Trump for almost three hours in Florida.
Although the talks did not yield a major breakthrough, the two leaders agreed in the latest version of the peace plan that the US would guarantee Ukrainian security for 15 years, with an option to extend those guarantees, Zelensky said earlier Monday.
“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.
“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.
Lavrov also said Russian air defenses shot down 91 drones. He also said Russia does not intend to withdraw from negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoed Zelensky’s comments and urged the world to “condemn the provocative Russian statements aimed at derailing the constructive peace process.”
In a post on X, Sybiha said Ukraine strikes only legitimate military targets in the Russian territory. The “fabricated” Russian claims regarding an alleged attack on Putin’s residence were only made as a “pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine,” he wrote.
Putin informed Trump about the alleged drone attack in a call between the two leaders on Monday, and he told the US president that Russia is reviewing its position on peace negotiations as a result, according to Russian state radio, citing a call with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov claimed that Trump was “shocked” and “outraged” by the report he received from Putin, Russian state radio reported.
Asked about the alleged Ukrainian attack ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump told reporters Monday, “I don’t like it. It’s not good.”
Trump said that when Putin told him about the alleged attack, “I was very angry about it.”
“It’s one thing to be offensive because they were offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that,” Trump said.
In response to a reporter’s question, 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 agencies had evidence of such an attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”
