Russia says its negotiating position on Ukraine will become tougher after blaming Kyiv for the attack
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The Kremlin said on Tuesday its position would harden in talks to end the war in Ukraine after it accused Kyiv of attacking the Russian president’s residence – allegations Kyiv said were baseless and aimed at escalating the conflict.
Kyiv said Russia’s allegations were “false” aimed at justifying further attacks on Ukraine, and the foreign minister said on Tuesday that Russia had not provided evidence “because there is none.”
Russia said on Monday that Kyiv attacked the presidential residence in the Novgorod region with 91 long-range attack aircraft. It said it would retaliate and review its negotiating position, but would not abandon talks on a possible peace deal.
“This act of terrorism is aimed at disrupting the dialogue process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. “The result of the negotiations will be to strengthen the negotiating position of the Russian Federation.”
He said the soldiers know when and how to respond.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denies that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine tried to attack President Vladimir Putin’s house in northern Russia.
The tough negotiating stance will challenge efforts led by US President Donald Trump to end Europe’s deadliest war since the Second World War.
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
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday that Russia had not provided concrete evidence for its allegations.
“And it won’t. Because there is no such attack,” said Sybiha to X.
He said Kyiv was disappointed with the statements of the United Arab Emirates, India and Pakistan, expressing their concern about what they said was an unprecedented attack.
“Russia has a long history of false claims – it’s their signature strategy,” Sybiha said.
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Asked by reporters if Russia had evidence of a drone attack, Peskov said the air defense shot them down, but the question of danger was for the Ministry of Defense.
No evidence has been provided by Russia other than a statement from the Ministry of Defense which said 91 drones were fired at the settlement, which is 360 kilometers north of Moscow.
The Ministry of Defense said 49 were shot in the Bryansk area, 450 kilometers from Valdai; one over the Smolensk region; and 41 over the densely forested Novgorod region.
The Ministry of Defense had made no mention of the attack in this area in its previous reports of military action. The governor of Novgorod, Alexander Dronov, said air defense and warplanes were shooting down Ukrainian drones.
Peskov said that many Western media are playing with Kyiv’s denials.
“We see that [Volodymyr] “Zelenskyy himself is trying to deny this, and many Western media, playing along with the Kyiv regime, are starting to spread the story that this did not happen,” said Peskov.
Peskov declined to say where Russian President Vladimir Putin was at the time of the attack, saying that due to recent events, such information should not be made public.
