International observers are raising questions about Russia’s claim that Ukrainian drones attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s residence, but the Kremlin said no evidence will be forthcoming.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rebuked a reporter on Tuesday for asking when material evidence of the alleged drone attack would be provided, calling the query “insane.”
“I don’t think there should be any evidence if such a massive drone attack is being carried out, which — thanks to the well-coordinated work of the air defense system — was shot down,” Peskov said.
An official within the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Washington Examiner that the burden of proof is on Russia to substantiate its claims.
“Why don’t they provide any [proof of] damages? Why didn’t local authorities confirm or report on the attacks?” the official said. “Even U.S. intelligence doesn’t confirm anything, and Trump himself said maybe it didn’t happen.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously characterized the alleged attack as a large-scale drone operation utilizing approximately 90 unmanned aerial vehicles. Separate data from the Ministry of Defense contradicted that claim, reporting 47 drones intercepted over the Novgorod region between Dec. 28 and Dec. 29.
Independent Russian outlet Mozhem Obyasnit published a report on the alleged attack after speaking with 14 residents.
The outlet alleged that none of the residents witnessed anything characteristic of a mass drone attack. No interviewee heard the tell-tale buzzing of drones, saw any explosions, or received the standard warning messages sent by the government when an area is under attack.
“There was no noise that night, no explosions, nothing,” one resident told the Russian outlet. “If something like that had happened, the whole town would have been talking about it.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha slammed countries including India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday for issuing statements condemning an “attack that never happened.”
“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.’ And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened,” Sybiha said in a statement on social media.
He continued, “Such reactions to Russia’s baseless manipulative claims only play into Russian propaganda and encourage Moscow for more atrocities and lies. We call on all states to act responsibly and refrain from responding to unverified claims — this undermines the constructive peace process that has been advancing lately.”
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War found that “the circumstances of this alleged strike do not conform to the pattern of observed evidence when Ukrainian forces conduct strikes into Russia.”
“The Kremlin has offered no evidence to support its claim that Ukrainian forces targeted Putin’s residence on December 29,” the institute added.
President Donald Trump told the press on Monday that he believed the Russian claims, though he admitted he only had their word as evidence.
“I don’t like it. It’s not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it — early in the morning, he said he was attacked. It’s no good. It’s no good,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago.
When asked by one journalist if U.S. intelligence independently confirmed the attack on Putin’s residence, Trump balked.
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“Well, we’ll find out. I mean, you’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place, that’s possible — I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did,” he responded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has roundly denied the Russian claims as a “complete fabrication” and asserted that it is a lie intended to disrupt peace negotiations further.
In a Q&A document shared with the press on Tuesday, Zelensky touched on the prospect of Russia using “false flags” in the future to undermine a hypothetical ceasefire agreement — explaining that the Ukrainian government is seeking a third-party “monitoring mission” to be put in place simultaneously with its proposed ceasefire.
“The monitoring mission will be led by our partners, whom we trust – and we trust them not only because they are our partners, but because they are technically capable of carrying this out,” Zelensky said. “They have satellites, they have the infrastructure, and they have all the drone infrastructure required for this. As for how to respond – this is the second part of the security guarantees, which specifies, point by point, how our partners will respond in the event of a ceasefire violation.”
