Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Ukrainian officials rushed on Tuesday to contain the diplomatic fallout of a Russian allegation that Kyiv’s long-range drones had targeted Vladimir Putin’s residence, calling it a falsehood designed to sabotage negotiations with the US.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Monday that 91 Ukrainian drones had targeted the president’s residence at Lake Valdai in the Novgorod region, but provided no evidence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “complete fabrication”.
But efforts to counter Russia’s claims gained added urgency after US President Donald Trump appeared to take them at face value, telling reporters he heard about the alleged attack directly from Putin and was “very angry”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif and the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry also expressed solidarity with Russia, with the UAE calling it a “deplorable attack”.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said on Tuesday that Kyiv was “disappointed” by the statements from the three countries but did not mention Trump’s comments.
“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’,” he said. “And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened.”
Kyiv says the accusation is meant to justify Russia’s continuing strike campaign even as peace talks unfold, and to “push the Americans into negative emotions” towards Zelenskyy, said one Ukrainian official with knowledge of the negotiation process.
Claims of the attack could not be independently verified. Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that 18 drones had been destroyed in the region, but did not mention a strike on the Valdai residence until after Lavrov’s accusation.
Ukrainian forces regularly launch long-range drone attacks in Russia’s western regions, but have in recent months almost exclusively focused on hitting energy infrastructure, including refineries and oil terminals.
The allegation came shortly after a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Florida that sought to secure a common negotiating position to end the war in Ukraine.
Though the meeting yielded no tangible results, both sides said they had achieved significant progress, with Zelenskyy saying a security guarantee between Ukraine and the US was “100 per cent ready”.
Ukrainian analysts argued that Russia’s accusation was an attempt to upset momentum around talks aimed at ending the conflict.
The Mar-a-Lago meeting “was neither betrayal nor victory, diplomatically speaking”, Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko wrote.
“But the Kremlin seemed to be very concerned that the negotiation process between Ukraine and the United States had gone too far, and decided it had to be disrupted,” he added.
In the wake of the allegations, Putin told Trump that Moscow would “reconsider its position” on negotiations with Ukraine, according to his foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov. Russia added that the alleged attack would not “go unanswered”.
Zelenskyy said he expected the Russian rhetoric to lay the ground for new attacks on government buildings in Kyiv. In September, Moscow launched a huge drone and missile barrage on the imposing concrete building in the capital, housing the cabinet of ministers.
The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday said the experimental Oreshnik missile system had entered combat duty in Belarus, releasing official images of the weapon for the first time.
EU leaders reiterated their support for Ukraine on Tuesday.
“We are moving the peace process forward. Transparency and honesty are now required from everyone — including Russia,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on X after holding a call with other European leaders, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa.
“We are united in our determination to intensify efforts toward a just and sustainable peace,” said Costa.
Additional reporting by Laura Dubois and Polina Ivanova
#Ukraine #seeks #diplomatic #fallout #Vladimir #Putins #attack #claim