Attack on Putin’s residence: no evidence, no casualties

On the eve of the New Year, Ukraine allegedly carried out a drone attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence using 91 unmanned aerial vehicles. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

According to Lavrov, on the night of December 29, Ukraine attempted to attack the Russian president’s state residence located in Russia’s Novgorod region with 91 drones. All of the drones were reportedly destroyed. No casualties or material damage were reported.

Lavrov said that, in light of this incident, Russia’s position in peace negotiations would be reconsidered. At the same time, he stressed that Moscow does not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process with the United States.

A noteworthy detail is that at the time of the alleged attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in the US state of Florida, where he was holding closed-door talks on peace negotiations with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago residence. Following the talks, Zelensky stated that 90 percent of his proposed 20-point peace plan had been agreed upon during discussions between Kyiv and Washington.

Zelensky said he learned of the alleged attack only after the negotiations and described Lavrov’s statement as false, linking it to Russia’s plans to strike Kyiv’s government quarter.

“Russians do not want to end this war. With statements about some residence being attacked, they are merely preparing the ground for strikes on the capital and government buildings,” Zelensky said.

He also linked Lavrov’s remarks directly to his talks with Trump.

“For Russia, the absence of conflict between us and the United States—especially when there is progress—means defeat. That is why they do not want to end this war,” Zelensky added.

According to the Ukrainian president, Moscow is attempting to derail the progress achieved in peace talks between Kyiv and Washington through such statements. He urged Donald Trump to respond appropriately to what he described as Russian threats.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also commented on the situation on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), calling Russia’s claims about the alleged attack “manipulation.” He said the statements were fabricated “with a single purpose—to justify Russia’s next attacks on Ukraine and to sabotage the peace process.” Sybiha described this as a typical Russian tactic: accusing others of what one is doing or planning to do.

The Ukrainian minister recalled that at the beginning of 2025, Russian armed forces struck government buildings in Ukraine. He stressed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces target only legitimate military objectives and do not strike government buildings in Russia.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly informed Donald Trump about the alleged drone attack on the state residence in the Novgorod region. According to Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, the “attack” occurred immediately after the Mar-a-Lago talks.

On December 31, the US Central Intelligence Agency sought to clarify the situation, stating that it does not believe Ukraine attempted to attack President Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region. According to US intelligence assessments, Ukrainian drones attempted to strike a military facility located in the same broader region on the night of December 29, but the target was not near the presidential residence.

US intelligence agencies have the capability to monitor Russian airspace and attacks on its territory using satellites and radar systems. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly conveyed the intelligence assessment to President Donald Trump. Shortly afterward, Trump shared a link on his Truth Social platform to an analytical article published by the New York Post stating that Ukraine had not attacked Putin’s residence. Trump accompanied the link with the article’s headline: “Putin’s sensational claims about an ‘attack’ show that Russia is the real obstacle to peace.”

According to the latest reports, Russia continues to stand by its claims regarding the alleged attack on the president’s residence. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it had obtained evidence of a Ukrainian drone attack on Putin’s residence and promised to hand the materials over to US officials.

On January 1, the ministry claimed that during a “special technical examination” of the drones allegedly involved in the attack, Russian security services extracted a “flight mission file” from one of the drones. An analysis of the flight route data allegedly showed that the final target of the Ukrainian drone attack was “one of the facilities located at the Russian president’s residence,” the ministry said, adding that the information would be forwarded to the United States.

For a detailed overview of the incident, watch the full video report on QALAMPIR.UZ’s YouTube channel.