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The Kremlin said on Tuesday its position would harden in negotiations over ending the war in Ukraine after accusing kyiv of attacking a Russian presidential residence – an allegation that kyiv said was baseless and aimed at prolonging the conflict.
kyiv has called Russia’s accusations “lies” aimed at justifying further attacks on Ukraine, and its foreign minister said Tuesday that Russia had provided no evidence “because there is none.”
Russia announced on Monday that kyiv had attacked a presidential residence in the Novgorod region with 91 long-range attack drones. He said he would fight back and revise his negotiating position, but would not abandon negotiations on a possible peace deal.
“This terrorist action aims to disrupt the negotiation process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. “The diplomatic consequence will be a hardening of the negotiating position of the Russian Federation.”
He added that the military knows when and how to respond.
WATCH | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denies Russian allegations:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s claims that Ukraine attempted to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia.
A tougher negotiating position would complicate efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to end Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, controls just under a fifth of its neighbor’s territory and says its troops are advancing.
Ukraine says no attack took place
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday that Russia had not provided any plausible evidence for its accusations.
“And they won’t. Because there isn’t one. No such attack has happened,” Sybiha said on X.
He said kyiv was disappointed by statements from the United Arab Emirates, India and Pakistan, expressing concern over what he called an attack that never happened.
“Russia has a long history of false claims – this is its signature tactic,” Sybiha said.
LISTEN | A Ukrainian opposition MP speaks to CBC’s As It Happens:
As it happens4:50 p.m.Trump has power to get Putin to agree to peace plan, Ukrainian lawmaker says
Ukrainian opposition MP Oleksiy Goncharenko speaks with AIH guest host Paul Hunter about U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Asked by reporters whether Russia had physical evidence of the drone attack, Peskov said air defenses had shot down the drones, but the issue of debris was a matter for the Defense Ministry.
No evidence has been provided by Russia, apart from a Defense Ministry statement that 91 drones were shot down as they headed towards the residence, located about 360 kilometers north of Moscow.
The Defense Ministry said 49 of them were shot down in the Bryansk region, 450 kilometers from Valdai; one on the Smolensk region; and 41 over the heavily forested Novgorod region.
The Defense Ministry had not mentioned any attack on the residence in its previous reports of military action. Novgorod Governor Alexander Dronov said air defense and combat aircraft were shooting down Ukrainian drones.
Peskov said many Western media outlets were playing Kyiv’s denial game.
“We see that [Volodymyr] Zelensky himself is trying to deny this, and many Western media, playing into the hands of the kyiv regime, are beginning to propagate the theme that this did not happen,” Peskov said. “This is a completely insane claim.”
Peskov declined to say where Russian President Vladimir Putin was at the time of the attack, saying that in light of recent events such details should not be made public.
