Ukrainian Foreign Ministry: Russia's tale of attack on Putin residence is merely pretext to abandon peace efforts

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi has said that Russia's crude fabrication about an alleged drone attack on Putin's residence in Valdai is merely an excuse for Moscow to abandon peace efforts.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Quote: "That is precisely why the Russians invented this myth about an attack on the residence. All they needed was to create a false (and rather sloppy) pretext to withdraw from peace efforts, which have recently accelerated thanks to active work by Ukraine and the United States."

Previously:

• Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader's press secretary, has said that Russia will not leave the negotiation process on ending the war in Ukraine but will conduct talks primarily with the Americans and threatened to "toughen" Russia's "negotiating stance".
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has noted that Russia has failed to provide any credible evidence of an alleged Ukrainian attack on Vladimir Putin's residence over the past 24 hours. Sybiha added that Moscow would not produce any such evidence because no attack took place.

Background:

• Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Ukraine had struck the residence of Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the night of 28-29 December, warning that Russia's "negotiating position" would be revised as a result.
• Lavrov claimed that overnight, Ukraine attacked Putin's residence in Russia's Novgorod Oblast (probably Valdai) using 91 attack UAVs. He claimed that Russian air defence systems had destroyed all the drones. Lavrov said that "Russia's negotiating position will be revised", but added that Russia does not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process with the US regarding Ukraine.
• Ukraine has officially denied these claims.
• "Another lie by Russia. Obviously, yesterday we had the meeting with Trump, and obviously for the Russians, if there is no quarrel between America and us, and we have progress instead, then that is a failure for them. They don't want to end this war. They are only capable of ending it under pressure. And so they were looking, I am convinced, for reasons… and they are going further," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!