Russia on Thursday accused the United States of having sponsored the alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin which it claims to have foiled the day before, “a lie” according to Washington, which denies any involvement.
Amid the exchange of accusations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded from The Hague, where he is on a surprise visit, the creation of a special international tribunal to try the “crime of aggression” that Moscow has committed against Ukraine.
Precisely, on the ground, the Russian bombardments have redoubled in intensity for several days: Kiev, which claims to complete its preparations for a major offensive, said it shot down around thirty explosive drones sent by Russia on Thursday.
But it was other drones that first made an impression: on Wednesday, Moscow claimed to have intercepted two Ukrainian devices aimed at the Kremlin, denouncing an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
A day later, a great blur still surrounds this supposed attack, the most spectacular attributed to kyiv since the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022.
The Russian authorities have made public no evidence and it is impossible to authenticate the videos broadcast by some Russian media on which we can see a small drone approaching the Kremlin and then exploding in a sheaf of flames.
Ukraine has in any case firmly denied any link with this affair, even accusing Russia of having “staged” it to justify a possible future escalation of the conflict, again without providing any convincing evidence.
“kyiv and Washington’s efforts to deny responsibility are totally ridiculous. Decisions about such attacks are not made in kyiv, but in Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, without substantiating his accusations.
The United States “has nothing to do with this affair”, retorted John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House.
“Enhanced” security
The Russian capital is located some 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and the Kremlin is located in an ultra-secure district. Russian accusations over an alleged Ukrainian drone incursion surprised many analysts.
Russian public television broadcast images on Thursday showing, it said, Mr. Putin during a working meeting inside the Kremlin, his first public appearance since the announcement of the supposed attack.
Security measures will be “strengthened”, assured Mr. Peskov, as the May 9 celebrations loom, marking the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
In Moscow, the big military parade planned in Red Square is maintained and Mr. Putin will give a speech there, according to his spokesman.
The Russian Foreign Ministry estimated Thursday that “the terrorist and sabotage activities of the Ukrainian armed forces” were taking “an unprecedented scale”.
Attacks have indeed multiplied in recent days, with in particular several drone attacks and spectacular railway sabotage.
On Thursday, drones hit two oil refineries in southwestern Russia, near Ukraine. In the evening, another drone was shot down near a Russian air base in Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea.
If kyiv has not claimed any of these actions, as usual, their intensification comes at a time when Ukraine claims to have completed its preparations for a vast spring offensive announced for weeks.
Rumors are rife among analysts about the date of this attack and its targets, with in any case the stated aim of reconquering the occupied territories in the east and south.
kyiv and Odessa targeted
During his trip to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) sits, Mr. Zelensky called for the creation of a special court to punish the Russian “crime of aggression”, “the beginning of evil”.
He also said that Ukraine, “realistically”, did not expect to join NATO as long as the conflict continued to rage, while urging its Western allies to continue “as quickly as possible” deliveries of weapons.
On Thursday, Russia carried out a new series of attacks by launching “24 Shahed 136 / 131 drones” on Kiev and “15” others on Odessa, the major port city in the south-west, according to Ukrainian authorities.
These ensured that 18 drones had been “shot down” above kyiv and 12 in the sky of Odessa. The machines that pierced the anti-aircraft defense apparently did not cause any casualties.
The day before, the city of Kherson was the target of “massive” bombardments which caused the death of 23 people and injured 46, according to the latest official report.
On Thursday, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, urged Moscow not to use the alleged drone attack the day before against the Kremlin “as an excuse to continue escalating” in the conflict.