Russia parliament speaker calls for destruction of Ukraine 'terrorist' regime

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament, called for the deployment of "weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime" in response to a purported drone strike on the Kremlin allegedly by Ukraine. In a threat of retaliation for what it called a "terrorist" act, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to use two drones to attack the Kremlin overnight with the intention of killing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, Zelenskyy denied Moscow’s claims by stating, “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.” 

Moscow says assassination attempt on Putin’s life

Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov informed Russia's national news agency RIA Novosti that the Russian president was not in the Kremlin at the time but rather at his Novo-Ogaryovo estate outside of Moscow.

The supposed attack on the Kremlin, which Russian authorities said happened over night but offered no proof of, was not independently verified. The Kremlin's delay in reporting the incident and the timing of the release of the incident's videos have also drawn scrutiny.

A video taken from across the river from the Kremlin and broadcast overnight on a local Moscow news Telegram channel appears to show smoke rising over the structures. The caption that accompanies the video claims that locals of a neighbouring residential block reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke afterwards.

The drones were intercepted by Russian military and security personnel, according to the Kremlin, before they could attack. It continued that nobody was injured.

According to the Kremlin's website, there was no harm caused when drone debris fell on the Moscow landmark's grounds.

Zelensky refutes Moscow’s claims

According to an AP report, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy denied any involvement in the attack who is in Helsinki for talks with the leaders of the five Nordic nations.

Zelensky in a news conference stated, “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities.”

According to Mykhailo Podolyak, presidential adviser, the allegations would provide Russia an excuse "to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, on infrastructure facilities" in the coming days. 

Washington opens up on the incident

According to a US official who spoke on the record under the condition of anonymity, the American intelligence authorities are investigating the alleged hits.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged seeing the allegations while addressing in Washington at a World Press Freedom Day event, he said, “I can’t in any way validate them. We simply don’t know.”

“I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt. So let’s see. We’ll see what the facts are and it’s really hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are,” he added.

The 14-month confrontation would have significantly escalated with the alleged drone attack, which would have brought the dispute to the centre of Russian power.