The drone war, of great tactical importance in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine; and the practice of deception, common in all wars, have reached the Kremlin. Yesterday, Wednesday, Moscow accused Kyiv of attacking the heart of the Russian capital with the aim of killing Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Government of Kyiv rejected the accusations and in turn blamed Russia for increasing the tension ahead of May 9 and the Victory Day military parade.
The Russian presidency assured on its website that the attack took place in the morning of May 3. Two drones heading for the Kremlin were destroyed by Moscow’s defenses and their wreckage fell into the medieval walled compound. There were no casualties or damage.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, later confirmed that the Russian leader was not in the Kremlin at the time, but in Novo-Ogariovo, his residence on the outskirts of Moscow, where he continued to work without changes to his schedule. “We consider these actions to be a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president”, states the note issued by Moscow, which reserved the “right to take reprisals where and when it deems appropriate”.
An unverified video circulated on social media showing what appeared to be smoke billowing from the Kremlin overnight. A second appeared to show fire on the roof of an 18th-century building, the Kremlin Senate.
As throughout the conflict, the Ukrainian and Russian versions differ entirely, in an attempt to win the information and propaganda war as well.
Ukraine categorically denied the accusations of its enemy. Mikhaïl Podoliak, advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, wrote on Twitter that “the presence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles in energy infrastructures or in the Kremlin can only indicate guerrilla activities of local resistance forces. (…) Something is happening in the RF (Russian Federation), but definitely without Ukrainian drones over the Kremlinâ€, he added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was visiting Finland, denied any involvement. “We do not attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight in our territory”, he asserted.
The Government of Kyiv has never claimed attacks and sabotage on Russian territory, not even on the Crimean peninsula, despite the evidence that these events can only come from Ukraine. Its Western allies fear that this could exacerbate the conflict and even lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. That is why they insist that Ukraine can use the weapons they supply exclusively to liberate the territories occupied by Russia in the conflict that began when on February 24, 2022, Putin ordered his army to enter the neighboring country. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
If Moscow’s version is true, the drone attack on the Kremlin would be the latest in a series of sabotage and strikes against military targets and energy facilities in various regions of Russia, which have accelerated in last days This could be explained by the upcoming celebration of Victory Day in Russia or by the announcements that Ukraine already has its counter-offensive ready.
On Wednesday morning itself, a drone struck a fuel tank in the Krasnodar Krai, in southern Russia, very close to the Kerch Bridge, which connects mainland Russia with the Crimean peninsula.
Two freight trains, one on Monday and the other on Tuesday, derailed due to the explosion of bombs on the tracks, in Briansk Oblast, bordering Ukraine.
On Saturday, a drone strike caused a fire at a fuel tank in the port of Sevastopol, base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, in Crimea. And on Sunday, an explosion was recorded at a high-voltage tower in the Leningrad Oblast, which surrounds Saint Petersburg.
Moscow is holding the May 9 military parade, when Russia will celebrate the 78th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Hitler’s Germany in World War II. But five regions, in addition to Crimea, have suspended it “for security reasons”.
The arrival of drones and deceptions in the Kremlin (wherever they come from) woke up the most bellicose voices in Moscow, allies of Putin. Vyacheslav Volodin, president of the Duma, asked for “weapons capable of stopping and destroying the terrorist regime in Kyiv”. And former president Dmitri Medvedev said that the incident “leaves us no other option but to physically eliminate Zelenski and his clique”.
