OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 6:52 AM – Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Russian officials claim that Ukrainian forces had conducted a drone attack against the Kremlin targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
According to the state media agency TASS, the Kremlin said the overnight drone attack had targeted the Russian President’s residence within the Kremlin.
However, the attack was “successfully repulsed” and Putin was not in the building at the time of the attack, and there were no injuries reported as a result.
“Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action,” a statement from the Kremlin read. “We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president’s life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, claimed that Ukraine was not responsible for the drone attack. He went on to claim that the attack could be used by Russia “to justify a new attack on Ukraine.”
The kremlin said that the attack was a “terrorist action” and that Russia has the “right to take retaliatory measures.”
“The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” the Kremlin said.
Former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler told Fox News that it is too early to know who was behind the attack, and that if Ukraine did conduct it, then it would be viewed by Russia as a “massive escalation.”
“It’s too early to tell who is behind the purported drone attack and whether the attempted attack actually did happen,” she said. “If Ukraine did do it, it would be viewed by Russia as massive escalation, allowing Putin to obliterate Kyiv, including Zelensky’s residence.”
Koffler also floated the possibility of the incident being “Russian disinformation,” and another possibility is that “an unknown third party” is seeking to escalate the conflict.
“The way the article is written has signs of Russian disinformation. Versions of this article are all across Russian media,” she said. “Which indicates to me that the Kremlin has approved publishing it. If it is a Russian ‘active measure’, the goal would be provocation, to provoke, laying the groundwork and the pretext for a ‘retaliation’ which the article mentioned specifically.”
On Wednesday, Moscow authorities banned the usage of all drones inside the Russian capital until further notice.
This is a developing story.
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