Russia releases video footage to challenge Kyiv over alleged presidential residence attack

MOSCOW - Russia’s defence ministry on Dec 31 released video footage of what it said was a downed drone at a briefing intended to show Ukraine tried this week to attack a presidential residence and challenge Kyiv’s denials that such an attack took place.

Kyiv says Moscow has produced no evidence to support its allegations and that Russia invented the alleged attack to block progress at talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Officials in several Western countries have cast doubt on Russia’s version of events and questioned whether there was any attack.

Video footage released by Russia’s defence ministry showed a senior officer, Major-General Alexander Romanenkov, setting out details of how Moscow says it believes Ukraine attacked one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences in the Novgorod region.

Maj-Gen Romanenkov said 91 drones had been launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions in a “thoroughly planned” attack that he said was thwarted by Russian air defences, caused no damage and injured no one.

The video released by the ministry included footage of a Russian serviceman standing next to fragments of a device which he said was a downed Ukrainian Chaklun-V drone carrying a 6kg explosive device that had not detonated.

The ministry did not explain how it knew what the device’s target was.

Speaking to Reuters, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said the footage was “laughable” and that Kyiv was “absolutely confident that no such attack took place”.

Reuters could not confirm the location and the date of the footage showing fragments of a destroyed device. The model of the destroyed device could not be immediately verified.

Other footage featured a man, identified as Igor Bolshakov from a village in the Novgorod region, saying he had heard air defence rockets in action. REUTERS