The Kremlin announced on 29 December that Ukraine had attempted to assassinate President Vladimir Putin using a large-scale drone strike on his state residence in the Novgorod region.
Moscow officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, alleged that 91 long-range drones were launched and intercepted before reaching their target, describing the incident as an escalation by Kyiv and proof of hostile intent during US-mediated peace negotiations.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence released imagery it said showed debris from a downed Ukrainian drone fitted with explosives. Officials claimed to have recovered routing data indicating a flight path toward a presidential residence and stated that the material would be provided to Washington as evidence.
Ukraine rejected the story outright, calling it a fabrication intended to disrupt talks and justify future Russian operations. Ukrainian officials framed the allegation as a disinformation effort timed to influence international opinion and pressure Western partners. Several European governments issued similar assessments, describing the accusation as strategically timed and unsupported by available information.
By 31 December, US intelligence agencies had assessed that the strike had not targeted Putin or any of his residences, according to an exclusive by The Wall Street Journal. The paper reported that a Central Intelligence Agency review found no evidence of an assassination attempt. Some US officials suggested Ukraine may have been operating drones against a separate military objective in the same region, though this has not been confirmed publicly and open-source reporting has not independently verified that claim.
Initial comments from US President Donald Trump, following a conversation with Putin, appeared sympathetic to Moscow’s account. After subsequent briefings from US intelligence, his public stance shifted toward scepticism, with the President reportedly warning that elements of the Russian narrative risked obstructing ongoing peace efforts.
Happy New Year!
Ukraine must be concerned at all 91 of its drones on this attack being shot down….unless it is Russian fake news of course!
Couldn’t care less if Ukraine did try to take out Putin with drones.
It’s war. That Putin started. He’s a perfectly valid target.
Maybe, maybe not… irrespective of what the target actually was, and assuming the story is broadly true; if the cost of the things that shot down the drones was way more than the drones then all being shot down is not necessarily an issue. Additionally, if the threat from drones in this area pulls russian defences away from other areas that would also be potentially beneficial for ukraine.
Very few conclusions can be drawn without knowing the bigger picture
Your starter for ten:
You are President of something or other, maybe a golf club.
You notice that a certain country’s leader has directed the invasion of another country twice within ten years having previously promised to respect that country’s territorial integrity and having further repeatedly stated that they had no intention of invading that country ever, whatsoever, at any stage, ever, ever. Then he tells you that flying fairies at the bottom of his garden are trying to kill him.
Do you:
A. Hail that leader as a straight up kind of a guy
B. Offer to buy his car collection because he says they are all really great and going cheap, only selling for a friend.
C. Invade Greenland
D. Find your son’s doodle of a funny looking battleship and order twenty to be built.
E. Go and lie down in a dark room with a damp towel on your forehead, reflecting that this whole President thing might not be for you.
If there’sone thing that genuinely mystifies me it’s this : Trump is one of the least masculine, least adult, least confident person in the world. Fragile, needy, whiny, defensive, pleading, scared of women, terrified of powerful men and women, insecure, stupid and thick,,intimidated by intelligence and success. I am at a loss as to how his supporters see him as manly or strong. To be clear, by ” masculine ” I mean positive aspects associated with manliness such as courage, stoicism, manners, self restraint, responsibility, learning and chivalry. He is in every sense a spoilt, petulant rage filled baby , a little boy with impulse issues yet they think he’s a tough guy. I don’t get that..
Democracy: the least worst system of government.
Although china would not agree… well one china would not the other has been converted.
@PC
77mn poorly educated Americans voted for fascist dictatorship, the convicted fraudster and proven rapist who had se# with a pron star while his wife nursed their newborn.
So his character is proven, and they don’t care how many teen pussies he grabs..
Trumpistan is despicable, and we won’t trust that broken system again.
Only Constitution reform to prevent #47 foreign interference happening again will enable the eventual alliance rebuilding in the US national security interest.
America Alone is weaker and poorer until then…
Water is wet also
given kirill budanov, ukraine intelligence chief, has made it amply clear they’ve tried to assasinate putin on several occasions, i’m inclined to believe russia about this, and we still await a formal statement from the USA
FSB and GRU have made multiple attempts on President Zelenskyy without having any impact on their record as war criminals. So there’s no reason to believe anything they say without independent verification.
Given the multilayered US intelligence network their judgement has the potential evidence to be trusted.
Sorry, I don’t understand stand, it’s budanov admitting they’ve made attempts on Putin, so why is this so unlikely,, and to the best of my knowledge the Americans haven’t made a statement yet ?
False equivalence; Budanov is truthful, RF FSB are usually liars.
CIA have stated that the FSB story has no substance, surprise! Not.
I trust that’s clearer…
It was budanov who said they’d attempted to assassinate Putin previously, and a reference needed for your CIA statement
Do you understand now ?