ISW found no evidence to support Lavrov's claim of alleged “Ukrainian attack” on Putin's residence
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) found no evidence to support Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's claim of an alleged “Ukrainian attack” with drones on Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's residence in Valday, Novgorod region.
According to Ukrinform, this is stated in a report by the Institute for the Study of War.
According to the ISW, confirmed Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory are usually backed up by evidence that can be found in open sources.
Such evidence includes often geolocated video recordings, the work of Russian air defense systems, explosions, fires, or smoke clouds near target objects; statements by local and regional Russian authorities, who usually downplay successful Ukrainian strikes by calling drones “debris,” and reports from local sources and media about fires or damage to such facilities.
ISW analysts have not observed any such videos or local or regional reports of Ukrainian strikes near Putin's residence that would corroborate Lavrov's statement.
It is noted that Lavrov's statement about the alleged shooting down of 89 Ukrainian drones over the Novgorod region also contradicts the Russian Defense Ministry's statement that Russian troops shot down 47 Ukrainian drones over the area on the night of December 28-29, further undermining the words of the Russian Foreign Minister.
Earlier, Ukrainian troops struck numerous military targets in the Novgorod region, which was backed up by evidence.
This time, the Kremlin did not provide any evidence to support its claim that Ukrainian troops allegedly shelled Putin's residence on December 29.
The Russian independent publication SOTA also published an investigation revealing that residents of Valday did not hear any air defense activity at night. However, in the event of an attack, Russian air defense forces would have had to work to shoot down “91 Ukrainian drones.”
As reported by Ukrinform, President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Lavrov's statement about an alleged drone attack on Putin's residence in Valday and threats to strike Ukrainian targets in response. The President called these statements lies against the backdrop of progress in Ukrainian-American negotiations. “A strike could be launched on the capital. Especially since this person, if you can call him that, said that they would select appropriate targets. Well, that is, they are threatening,” Zelensky said.
For his part, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed that Russian manipulations regarding the alleged attempt to attack Putin's residence were fabricated for one reason only: To create a pretext and false justification for further attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukraine, as well as to undermine and hinder the peace process.