Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared on Monday, December 29 that Ukraine had attempted to attack the residence of President Vladimir Putin in the Novgorod region, which kyiv strongly denies.
Sergei Lavrov explained on Telegram that on the night of Sunday, December 28, Ukraine targeted the Russian president’s state residence in the Novgorod region with 91 long-range drones, all of which were destroyed by Russian air defense. “Such irresponsible acts will not go unpunished,” the minister said, adding that the attack amounted to “state terrorism.” He said targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by the Russian armed forces.
Sergey Lavrov noted that the attack took place during negotiations in Florida over a possible peace deal in Ukraine and that although Russia would not leave the negotiating table, Moscow’s position would be revisited soon. He did not say whether Vladimir Putin was in the building at the time of the attack.
A “new series of lies”, according to Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky immediately rejected these Russian accusations, citing a “new series of lies” from Moscow. The Ukrainian president told reporters via WhatsApp that with such statements, Russia was trying to undermine progress in peace talks between Ukraine and the United States and was “simply preparing the ground to carry out strikes, probably on the capital and probably on government buildings.”
“Russia is doing it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all the results of our joint diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media.
