War in Ukraine: Zelensky denies attack on Putin’s residence, a “deceitful tactic” by Moscow to hit kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounces a “lie”. Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of launching 91 drones overnight against Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region, warning that Moscow would “revise” its position in negotiations on the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

During the night, “the kyiv regime launched a terrorist attack using 91 drones against the state residence of President” Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Telegram, warning of “retaliations” and affirming that, if it did not intend to “withdraw from the negotiation process with the United States”, “Russia’s position will be revised”.

In a message sent by Telegram, President Volodymyr Zelensky strongly rejected these accusations. He warns against “very dangerous statements” from Russia, which he accuses of seeking to “scuttle all recent diplomatic progress”, the day after the meeting between the American president and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida.

“A deceptive tactic”

“Another lie from the Russian Federation,” Zelensky denounced during a virtual exchange with journalists.

According to the Ukrainian leader, the Kremlin would have thus “invented a manifestly false story” concerning an alleged attack against the residence of Vladimir Putin, in order to create “a pretext to continue their attacks in Ukraine, in particular against kyiv”, and to avoid taking “the necessary measures to end the war”.

He denounced a “deceptive tactic typical of the Russians”, recalling that the Ukrainian capital has already been targeted in the past, including the building of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Donald Trump would have been “shocked and outraged” by the alleged attempt to attack Putin’s residence, according to Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to the Russian president, reports the independent Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post.

At the same time this Monday, the American president spoke with Vladimir Putin by telephone about the war in Ukraine. “President Trump concluded a positive telephone conversation with President Putin regarding Ukraine,” wrote Karoline Leavitt on X.

During the call, the Russian leader reportedly told Trump that Ukraine’s “terrorist” actions would not go unanswered, the Kremlin reported, according to reports from the Kyiv Post.