Photo: Sergey Guneev / RIA Novosti
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that connected the nighttime of December 29 Ukrainian drones allegedly attempted to onslaught presidential residence V Novgorod regionin Valdai. According to him, Moscow has already determined the targets and clip of the “retaliatory strike”.
The statement came amid reports of progress successful negotiations betwixt Kyiv and Washington connected the imaginable extremity of the war successful Ukraine. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky named Moscow’s accusations false.
It is noteworthy that the connection astir the onslaught appeared astir simultaneously with another telephone speech betwixt Donald Trump and Vladimir Putinwhich became the tenth successful 2025.
What Moscow said
According to Sergei Lavrov, connected the nighttime of December 29, Ukraine allegedly sent drones towards 1 of the authoritative statesmanlike residences of Russia – “Long Beards”better known arsenic Valdai.
The curate said that there were nary reports of casualties oregon damage, but didn’t specifywas there Vladimir Putin astatine the residence astatine the clip of the alleged attack.
Neither Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russianeither Kremlinneither Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not supply visual oregon different nonsubjective grounds confirming the very information of the attempted onslaught connected the statesmanlike residence.
At the aforesaid time, Lavrov made it wide that an onslaught effort will not spell unanswered.
“Please enactment that this enactment was carried retired during intensive negotiations betwixt Russia and the United States to resoluteness the Ukrainian conflict. Such reckless actions will not spell unanswered. The targets of retaliatory strikes and the clip of their transportation by the Russian Armed Forces person been determined.”Russian quality agencies punctuation Lavrov.
Formerly Governor of the Novgorod Region Alexander Dronov And Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that from 23:00 connected December 28 to 07:00 connected December 29, the portion was attacked 18 dronesand then from 07:00 to 09:00 – much 23 droneswhich were changeable down by aerial defence systems. The statesmanlike residence was not mentioned successful authoritative reports.
In the statement Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia it is stated that the total fig of radical progressive successful the onslaught was 91 Ukrainian drones.
Lavrov besides stated that, contempt what happened, Russia does not mean to withdraw from the dialog process with the United Stateshowever, stressed that Moscow’s negotiating positions will beryllium revised, accusing Kyiv of “policy of state terrorism”.
What did Zelensky answer?
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky rejected Moscow’s accusations, calling them another lie. The Ukrainian subject and quality services did not springiness authoritative comments connected Lavrov’s statement.
“Another prevarication from the Russian Federation. For Russians, if we don’t person a ungraded with America, but there is progress, it’s a failure. They don’t want to extremity this war.”Zelensky told reporters.
Later, successful his Telegram channel, Zelensky wrote that such accusations could beryllium used as a justification for caller attacks connected Ukraine.
“The Russians came up with an evidently fake story successful bid to person a crushed to proceed attacks connected Ukraine, successful peculiar Kyiv, and to wantonness existent steps towards ending the war.”he said.
Zelensky called connected the planetary assemblage don’t disregard what’s happeningso that Moscow does not disrupt the process of moving towards peace.
The time before, Zelensky met with Donald Trump successful Florida. Following the meeting, Trump said that the extremity of the war was closer, but admitted that the question of the aboriginal of Donbass remains unresolved. Zelensky said that the issues of information guarantees for Ukraine had been worked retired “100%”, without disclosing details.
Telephone speech betwixt Putin and Trump
After the onslaught was announced, the Kremlin and the White House announced a caller telephone speech betwixt the presidents of Russia and the United States. Trump Press Secretary Caroline Levitt described it arsenic “positive”.
According to the adjutant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri UshakovPutin informed Trump astir an alleged drone onslaught connected a residence successful the Novgorod region, emphasizing that it occurred soon aft the US-Ukrainian talks astatine Mar-a-Lago.
Ushakov stated that Trump was shocked with this connection and noted that helium could not ideate such actions. Also, according to him, Putin announced a reappraisal of Russia’s presumption successful transportation with what Moscow calls “state terrorism” from Kyiv.
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