White House comments on possible provocation by Russia following Kremlin drone strike

White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre commented on the issue on Wednesday in response to a question of whether the UAV strikes in the center of Moscow could have been a false flag operation run by Russia, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

“It is really too early to tell as you asked me about the false flag essentially. But obviously, Russia has a history of doing things like this," White House spokesperson said.

She emphasized that she would not want to speculate or get into hypotheticals since the U.S. is unable to confirm the authenticity of the alleged Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Kremlin.

In response to another question, of whether Washington considers Putin, as commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, a legitimate target for the Ukrainian military, Jean-Pierre noted that the U.S. does not encourage the Ukrainians to take any such steps.

"Since the beginning of this conflict, the United States is certainly not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders," U.S. administration spokesperson emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian side did not attack the Kremlin residence of the Russian President, decrying the allegations as an act of manipulation on the part of the Russian leadership. He expressed his conviction that in this way, Putin is trying to motivate his society to be able to send more soldiers to their deaths because there are no battlefield gains to help the cause.