Ukraine denies the accusation, saying it is a fabrication to block peace, ‘another round of lies from the Russian Federation’, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’sresidence in northern Russia, although it provided no evidence to back up an assertion that Kyiv dismissed as baseless and designed to undermine peace negotiations. The angry exchanges – including a statement by Russia that it was reviewing its stance on negotiations in response to the attack – dealt a new blow to prospects for peace in Ukraine.
On Sunday, US President DonaldTrump met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Floridaand said they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained. Putin also struck a defiant tone on Monday, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine’sZaporizhzhia region, and the Kremlin repeated demands for Kyiv to pull its forces out of the last part of the Donbas area that it still holds in eastern Ukraine. Putintold Trump by phonethat Russia, which invaded Ukraine in Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had tried to attack Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow on 28-29 December with 91 long-range drones, which were all destroyed by Russian air defences.
No one was injured and there was no damage, he said in comments reported by Russian media. “Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” the veteran foreign minister said, describing the attack as “state terrorism” and adding that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia’s armed forces. Lavrov appeared in televised remarks not to have offered any evidence for his assertions.
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It was not clear where Putin was at the time. Lavrov noted that the attack took place during negotiations about a possible peace deal and said Russia would review its negotiating stance, but not quit the negotiations. Denying Ukraine had planned such an attack, Zelensky accused Moscow of preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kyiv, saying Russia wanted to undermine progress at US-Ukrainian talks on ending the war. “Another round of lies from the Russian Federation,” Zelensky told reporters via WhatsApp.
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