Putin accuses Ukraine of drone attack on Moscow, threatens to retaliate
Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on today's drone attack on Moscow and the Moscow region. According to him, with such attacks, Kyiv provokes the Russian Federation to mirror actions.
"We'll see what to do about it," Putin said. He stressed that Russia is striking at military infrastructure in Ukraine, in response, Kyiv is hitting residential buildings.
"The Kyiv regime has chosen the path of intimidating Russia, intimidating Russian citizens and attacking residential buildings. This, of course, is a clear sign of terrorist activity," the Russian president said.
Putin noted the "satisfactory performance" of the Russian air defense during the drone attack, although, according to him, "there is still work to be done."
He also mentioned other threats posed by Ukraine. According to him, Kyiv is trying to "disrupt the work" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or "use some dirty devices related to the nuclear industry."
Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that the Russian president would not make statements about the incident.
"We know that, thank God, there are no casualties. And now there is no threat to residents of Moscow and the Moscow region," Peskov said at a press briefing. Peskov noted that the drone attack was "Kyiv's response to the strikes of the Russian military."
"It is quite clear that we are talking about the response of the Kyiv regime to our very effective strikes on one of the decision-making centers. This strike was carried out on Sunday," he said.
At the same time, according to the Russian agency Interfax, Peskov did not answer the question of what the Russians should be prepared for after this attack.
According to the Russian opposition news website Meduza and the news outlet Agenstvo. Novostei, Russian state media have already received orders from the presidential administration on how to report on drone attacks on Moscow and the Moscow region.
According to the Kremlin’s instructions, the media should highlight the "successful work of air defense", the "instantaneous" response of the federal services and the leadership of Moscow, their "high-quality and focused" work. It should also be emphasized that the goals of such "psychological attacks" have not been achieved, the residents have shown "calmness and restraint".
At the same time, according to the Agenstvo. Novostei, in the official new releases, the number of drones attacking the Russian capital and the Moscow region has been significantly decreased .
"In the news release at 9:00 a.m., a journalist from Russian Channel One, citing "media reports," said that there could have been "about 20" drones. However, in the news release at 12:00, it was reported that, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, only eight drones were involved in the attack on the capital. Information about dozens of drones in the news release was called "rumors" that "multiplied on the Internet," the resource notes.
According to the Agenstvo. Novostei, the Moscow prosecutor's office has already warned the media and bloggers against disseminating "knowingly false information" about the drone attack, threatening administrative and criminal cases.
This morning, drones hit three residential high-rise buildings in Moscow. Several more drones were shot down in the suburbs. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it destroyed all the drones launched by the "Kyiv regime". However, the Ministry didn’t explain how other the drones managed to hit the residential buildings.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, denied Kyiv's involvement in the strikes. According to him, "perhaps not all Russian drones were ready to attack Ukraine, and some wanted to return to their creators."
The founder of the Russian private military company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian Defense Ministry of inaction.