RUSSIA DOUBLES DOWN ON PUTIN HOME CLAIM
US-led diplomacy to end the war has gained pace in recent weeks, with Zelenskyy expected to attend a January 6 summit in France with allies, after holding talks with US President Donald Trump in Florida.
But Russia has shown no sign of dropping its maximalist demands in Ukraine.
The European Union accused Moscow on Wednesday of trying to “derail” negotiations with its claim this week that Kyiv tried to attack Putin’s residence in north-west Russia.
The Kremlin accused Ukraine of launching dozens of drones at Putin’s lakeside residence in the Novgorod region – between Moscow and Saint Petersburg – on the night of Dec 28.
Moscow on Wednesday published footage of a drone it said Kyiv had sent toward the residence.
Russia has called it a “terrorist attack” and a “personal attack” against Putin, saying it will toughen its negotiation stance in the Ukraine war talks.
The video, shot at night, showed a damaged drone lying in the snow in a forested area. The defence ministry said the alleged attack was “targeted, carefully planned and carried out in stages.”
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which documents the Ukraine-Russia conflict, said Tuesday it had not seen any “footage or reporting that typically follows Ukrainian deep strikes to corroborate the Kremlin’s claims of Ukrainian strikes threatening Putin’s residence in Novgorod Oblast”.
Putin has not publicly commented on the attack – aside from the Kremlin saying he had informed Trump about it in a call – and Moscow has not said where the Russian leader was at the time.
Putin’s residences and private life are shrouded in secrecy in Russia.
Source: CNA
