Kiev’s assassination attempt on Putin targeted Kremlin, Moscow claims – live

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country had not attacked Russia or Vladimir Putin, after Moscow accused Kiev of staging a failed assassination attempt on the Russian president with a drone strike on the Kremlin.

“We are not attacking Putin or Moscow, we are fighting on our territory. We are defending our towns and cities,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Helsinki.

Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, denied any involvement, saying: “Ukraine has nothing to do with the drone strikes against the Kremlin.”

Russia may have staged an apparent drone strike on the Kremlin to bring the war to domestic audiences, a US-based think tank has said.

Several indicators suggest that a drone attack on the Kremlin on May 3 was carried out internally and deliberately organized by Russia, the Institute for the Study of War said.

“It is extremely unlikely that two drones would have penetrated multiple layers of air defense and detonated or been shot down right over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular footage captured beautifully on camera,” the war-monitoring think tank said. .

Explosions were reported in kyiv and other cities in the early hours of today, officials and media said, with some local authorities reporting that air defenses were operational.

“Air defenses are working in the kyiv region,” the regional military administration said on Telegram. Reuters eyewitnesses in the city said there was at least one loud explosion.

Explosions have also been reported in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Yuri Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram that the air defenses were working.

Explosions have also been reported in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Air alerts have sounded across most of the eastern half of the country, according to an official government map.

Images posted on social media appear to show a drone flying over the Kremlin before exploding.

Russia claimed that kyiv launched a failed assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin with a drone that was shot down over the Kremlin.

The images have been shared by Ukrainian government adviser Anton Geraschenko, as well as Russian military bloggers and state news agencies.

The United States said on Wednesday it would send a new military aid package to Ukraine worth $300m (£240m), including for the first time Hydra-70 air-launched short-range rockets taken from excess stocks of USA.

The security assistance package would be the 37th approved by the United States for Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022, for a total of $35.7 billion.

“The United States and our allies and partners will stand together with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement announcing the aid package.

The rockets, ammunition and 155mm howitzer guns included in the package would help Ukraine weaken Russian ground positions for advancing Ukrainian ground forces as Kiev plans a spring offensive.

The White House said Wednesday it was aware of reports that Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones to try to kill President Vladimir Putin, but was unable to authenticate or confirm the allegations.

“We are aware of the reports, but we cannot confirm their (…) authenticity at this time,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said an alleged overnight drone attack on the Kremlin left Moscow with no choice but to “eliminate” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his “cabal” in Kiev.

Zelensky denied that kyiv was behind the incident, which the Kremlin says was an attempt on the life of President Vladimir Putin but left no casualties.

The Kremlin said Moscow would retaliate “when and where it sees fit.”

Medvedev, who has a history of savage and aggressive public statements, said on Telegram: “After today’s terrorist attack, there are no options left except the physical removal of Zelensky and his cabal.”

Russia could sabotage undersea cables to punish Western nations for supporting Ukraine, NATO’s intelligence chief warned Wednesday, as the alliance boosts efforts to protect undersea infrastructure following the Nord Stream attacks.

“There is heightened concern that Russia could target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Western life, to gain leverage against nations that provide security for Ukraine,” David Cattler told reporters.

“The Russians are more active than we have seen them in years in this domain,” he said, adding that they were patrolling more across the Atlantic than in recent years and had also intensified their activities in the North and Baltic seas. .

Threats to undersea cables and pipelines have become a focus of public attention since, in September 2022, as-yet-unexplained explosions crippled the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, built to send gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. .

Last month, public broadcasters in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway reported that their national security services were concerned that Russia appeared to be planning to attack the countries’ North Sea communication cables if it started war with NATO.

Read more about it, here:

Donald Trump said he could end the war in Ukraine in a single day if he is re-elected president.

In an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News, the former White House resident said he “got along very well” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Ukraine.

He said, “If I were president, [would] end that war in one day. It will take 24 hours. I’ll make that end. It would be easy.

“That deal would be easy. A lot of this has to do with money. That war has to be stopped. It is a disaster.”

Read more about the 2024 challenger interview here:

NATO plans to open a liaison office in Japan, the first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region, the Nikkei Asia reported today, citing Japanese and NATO officials.

The liaison office will allow discussions with NATO security partners such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, taking into account the geopolitical challenges of China and Russia, the news outlet reported.

When asked about the report, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance would not go into details of the NATO allies’ ongoing deliberations.

Spokesmen for Japan’s Foreign Ministry were not available for comment. Today is a public holiday in Japan.

Japan and the West have been getting closer in recent years. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg visited Japan in January and pledged to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to strengthen ties to face “historic” security challenges, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing military might. .

The same month, Japan and the US expanded their military alliance to counter threats in outer space, while jointly acknowledging China as an “unprecedented” threat to international order.