Moscow accused the US of masterminding a drone attack on the Kremlin, a charge denied by Washington, and said Ukrainian sabotage on Russian territory had reached “unprecedented momentum”. Moscow said President Vladimir Putin was working from the Kremlin the day after the attack, which it said was a Ukrainian attempt to kill him. “Decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Kyiv only does what it is told to do… Washington should understand clearly that we know this,” he said.

Ukraine has denied responsibility, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying “We do not attack Moscow or Putin.” The United States has also denied any involvement. “Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple,” John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said on MSNBC. Throughout its more than year-long offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has maintained that Kyiv is taking orders from the United States — accusing the West of leading a war against Russia by proxy.

Another Ukraine ally, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, warned Moscow “not to use this alleged attack as an excuse” to escalate the conflict.The Kremlin attack came as Russia prepares to mark one of its main holidays on May 9 — celebrating the Soviet victory over the Nazis in World War II — with a traditional military parade in Red Square. It came after five days of apparent sabotage attacks, including trains derailed by explosions and massive fires in annexed Crimea. On Thursday, Russia’s southern Krasnodar and Rostov regions, both near Ukraine, reported drone strikes that caused fires.

And early Thursday evening, Russia-installed authorities in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, said their forces had downed a drone near an airbase in the region. The Kremlin has insisted Moscow’s May 9 parade will go ahead despite the attacks in border regions and in the heart of Russian power, but under “strengthened” security. Russian television on Thursday showed Putin in the Kremlin for the first time since the drone attack.

The Russian leader does not plan “any address on this topic”, said his spokesman. Moscow did however acknowledge that the country was facing an “unprecedented” wave of sabotage. It has not released official images of the attack. Unverified social media images showed a drone hitting the Kremlin Senate building. Peskov said “two copper sheets” on the dome of the 18th-century building had been damaged by fire. “They have been or will be replaced, everything will be like new. There is no other damage.” As Moscow accused the United States of planning the Kremlin attack, Ukraine’s Zelensky arrived on a surprise visit to The Hague.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP