The alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin this week could not have taken place without the United States being aware of it, the head of Russian diplomacy said on Friday, while Washington and Kiev denied any involvement.
“This is a hostile act. It is clear that the terrorists in Kiev could not have committed it without their bosses knowing about it”, launched Sergei Lavrov during a trip to India, affirming that Moscow was going to take “concrete actions” to respond to this alleged attack.
On Wednesday, Moscow claimed to have intercepted two Ukrainian drones targeting the Kremlin, denouncing an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. kyiv denied any involvement and Washington questioned the Russian accusations.
On Thursday, Russia — through Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov — accused the United States of ordering the alleged attack.
Washington immediately reacted by denouncing a “lie” and denying any involvement.
“If you believe that as soon as the United States and Ukraine have dismissed the charges, we must stop thinking what we know about it, this is not the case”, for his part insisted on Friday Mr. Lavrov, speaking to the press.
“The ability of our Ukrainian and Western friends to lie is very well known,” he said.
New fire in an oil refinery targeted by a drone
A new fire broke out on Friday in southwestern Russia, near Ukraine, in an oil refinery targeted the day before by a drone attack, local emergency services said, quoted by the news agencies. Russian press.
The fire which affected an area of 60 m2 was reported in the morning in the oil refinery in Ilsky, in the Krasnodar region, and was brought under control “before the arrival of the firefighters”, indicated the local branch. of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, quoted by the Interfax agency.
“The refinery employees were quickly evacuated. No one was hurt,” she said.
According to the official TASS agency citing a source within the emergency services, the fire was caused by a new drone attack.
For its part, the public agency RIA Novosti affirmed, quoting another source within the emergency services, that the fire broke out due to the self-ignition of the petroleum products from which the leak had occurred. the day before after a drone attack.
No official information on the origin of the fire was immediately available.
The oil refinery in Ilsky was targeted by an unidentified drone attack on Thursday, according to local authorities, causing a fire in one of the oil facility’s tanks which was quickly extinguished.
For almost a week, a series of drone attacks and railway sabotage have hit Russian regions close to Ukraine and annexed Crimea, a few days before the May 9 military celebrations, essential in the Kremlin’s agenda. .
If Ukraine has not claimed any of these attacks, as usual, their multiplication comes at a time when kyiv claims to have completed its preparations for a major spring offensive announced for weeks.