EU’s top diplomat rejects Russian claims of Ukrainian attack on government sites

The EU’s top diplomat has described Moscow’s allegations that Ukraine targeted Russian government facilities as a “deliberate distraction” and an attempt to derail the peace process.

Kaja Kallas’ comments on social media appear to be a reference to the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine attempted a drone attack on one of Vladimir Putin’s residences.

“No one should accept the baseless claims of the attacker, who indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians,” Kallas said on social media.

Earlier this week, Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in Russia’s northwest.

The Kremlin said it would review Russia’s position in ongoing peace talks as a result.

Since Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov first disclosed the allegations, Russian state media and politicians have discussed the alleged attack in increasingly provocative tones.

“The attack is an attack on the heart of Russia,” said Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian parliament’s defense committee. “Why after? [Ukraine] If he did it, he cannot be forgiven.”

Although the Kremlin initially said there was no point in sharing evidence of the alleged attack, on Wednesday the Russian military released what it said was evidence of the attempted attack.

The report included a map that purported to show drones being launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions, and a video of a drone being shot down in snowy forestland. A soldier standing next to the wreckage claims it is a Ukrainian Chaklun UAV.

The BBC has not been able to verify the footage and it is impossible to find out where it was shot.

The profile of the wrecked UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) bears similarities to Ukrainian-produced Chakluns; But since the components of the pictured drone are cheap and widely available on the internet, they cannot be definitively traced to the Ukrainian military.

Russia’s defense ministry also released a video purportedly of a local resident describing hearing a rocket-like sound during the alleged attack.

But a Russian investigative media outlet said it interviewed more than a dozen residents of the area around Putin’s home and said none had heard anything to indicate the 91 UAV had approached or been shot down by air defenses.

“If something like this happened, the whole city would be talking about it,” one person told the press.

A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said what Russia presented as evidence was “ridiculous”. “They’re not even serious about making up the story,” Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also strongly denied the allegations and attributed them to the ongoing US-led process to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine.

American and Ukrainian delegations have been working closely together in recent weeks, and Zelensky has expressed cautious optimism that his country’s demands will be taken into account.

He said on Tuesday that the allegations about the drone attack on Putin’s residence in Valdai were related to “very successful discussions and a positive meeting between our teams over the past month, which culminated in our meeting with President Trump.”

Zelensky said Russia wanted to disrupt the “positive momentum” between the United States and Ukraine.

When the allegations emerged, Zelensky also warned that the alleged drone attack could be used as an excuse to attack government buildings in Kiev and Ukraine. On Wednesday night, aerial warnings were briefly sounded in the capital as a drone approached, but no hits or damage were reported.

Instead, many locations across the country were hit by drones, and Odesa on the Black Sea suffered a large-scale attack in which an apartment block crashed and six people were injured, including three children. More than 170,000 people were left without power as temperatures struggled to exceed 0C.

Odessa has been under constant attack for several weeks. The intensity of the attacks appears to have increased since Putin threatened in early December to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea in retaliation for drone attacks on tankers belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea.

Hours before the end of another year of war, many in Kiev had only one wish for 2026.

Mariya, 26, said: “We hope all this will end. We want it to be over now and we want to live like before.” he said.

Standing in front of the golden-domed Hagia Sophia monastery in Kiev, she added: “We have a very beautiful country with enormous potential. Our strength is in our people and that’s why we move on.”

As he spoke, young carolers nearby sang Christmas carols and raised funds for the armed forces. “We all want victory to come in 2026. This is our common wish,” one of them said.

Zelensky expressed a desire for peace negotiations to be resumed and accelerated in early January with the participation of both American and European officials. But any deal would eventually require Russian participation, which seems unlikely, and the alleged drone incident at Putin’s residence may have pushed that further away.

So can next year really bring peace? “We really hope so, but we can’t say for sure. We’re doing everything we can,” Mariya said.

Next to him, a woman named Ksenia shrugged and turned her eye to the sky: “Truly, only God knows.”