Russian Defense Ministry Provides New Insights on Claims of Ukrainian Drone Assault on Putins Residence

On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry offered its first comprehensive account of a purported Ukrainian drone strike targeting President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Valdai. The ministry reported that over half of the drones involved were reportedly intercepted hundreds of kilometers away from the estate.

Officials in Moscow allege that Ukraine executed a significant drone operation aimed at Putin’s home in the Novgorod region during the night from Sunday to Monday. Ukrainian authorities have dismissed these claims as a strategy to undermine U.S.-facilitated negotiations intended to resolve the conflict.

The timing and nature of Russia’s accusations seemed peculiar. Initial information about the alleged attack was not shared by the Defense Ministry or local officials, who usually handle reports of drone incursions, but rather by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who delivered what appeared to be a military briefing while Putin was engaged in a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.

On Wednesday, Major General Alexander Romanenkov, the head of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ missile defense units, stated that Ukraine conducted the drone operation «along various routes toward the Russian president’s residence, traversing the Bryansk, Smolensk, Tver, and Novgorod regions.»

Romanenkov indicated that 50 out of 91 drones involved in the operation were intercepted over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions, both located hundreds of kilometers from Putin’s residence, and which frequently experience drone strikes launched from Ukraine.

A map displayed during Romanenkov’s briefing at a Defense Ministry event suggested that the interception areas in Bryansk and Smolensk were approximately 520 kilometers (323 miles) south of the Valdai estate.

Romanenkov did not clarify how military officials concluded that those 50 drones were headed to Valdai but mentioned that an additional 41 drones were shot down in the Novgorod region. Earlier, the Defense Ministry reported downing only 18 Ukrainian drones in that area between Sunday and Monday.

“The structure of the assault and the number of aerial assets involved… unequivocally suggest that the attack orchestrated by the Kyiv regime was intentional, meticulously planned, and executed in a layered approach,” Romanenkov remarked.

In addition, the Defense Ministry released a video purportedly showing a downed Ukrainian drone in a snowy forest at night, claiming it belonged to the group involved in the Valdai attack. The footage lacked specific details needed for independent verification regarding the timing or location of the recording.

Furthermore, the military produced video testimony from an individual named Igor Bolshakov, identified as a resident of Valdai, who asserted that he heard explosions correlating with the alleged attack on Putin’s residence.

The Moscow Times was able to locate a profile belonging to Bolshakov on the social media platform VKontakte, where he indicated he lived in Valdai. However, verification of his statements proved difficult as they contradicted accounts from independent Russian media sources, which cited several local residents claiming they heard nothing during the specified timeframe.

The Defense Ministry’s briefing, raising more questions than it resolved, is unlikely to quell Ukrainian officials’ assertions that Russia’s claims of an attack on Putin’s residence are fabricated, possibly a tactic to create discord between the Trump administration and Kyiv at a crucial juncture for peace discussions.

Trump, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida over the weekend to discuss a 20-point peace initiative, expressed his “great anger” regarding the incident on Monday.

Zelensky stated that Ukraine’s negotiating team had discussed the allegations with U.S. officials, remarking, “Our partners can confirm whether this was a fabrication based on their technological capacities.”

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker clarified on Tuesday that Western intelligence agencies were currently assessing the Russian assertions, signaling that officials were not yet inclined to accept them as credible, a stance seeming different from that of Trump.

“It is uncertain whether this actually took place,” Whitaker remarked in an interview with Fox News. “Ukraine is facing nightly drone strikes and all it can do is defend itself.”

Should these claims be validated, it wouldn’t be the first instance of Ukrainian drones reaching locations where Putin resides. In May 2023, two drones struck the top of the Kremlin, which Russian authorities labeled as a failed assassination attempt against the president.

Simultaneously, Zelensky previously mentioned that Russia had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to take his life since the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.