Putin, Trump (File photos)
Days after Russia claimed that Ukraine tried to target President Vladimir Putin’s official residence in a drone attack, Russian authorities on Thursday said they had shared what they described as evidence linked to the incident with the United States.The Russian defence ministry released a video on Telegram showing a meeting between Igor Kostyukov, chief of Russia’s main intelligence directorate, and a representative from the US military attache’s office in Moscow. Russian officials said the meeting was held to present materials connected to the alleged drone strike.“I am Igor Kostyukov, chief of the main intelligence directorate of the general staff of the armed forces of Russia. I have invited you for an important matter. I would like to inform you that we have found the debris of unmanned aerial vehicles involved in this attack,” Kostyukov said at the start of the meeting, as seen in the video.During the meeting, Kostyukov showed a device that he said was recovered from one of the drones. He claimed that several drones shot down during the incident had navigation systems that were still intact. “In several of these drones, the navigation systems are well-preserved and technically functional. The decoding of the content of the memory of the navigation controllers of these drones, carried out by specialists of the Russian special services, unequivocally and accurately confirmed that the target of the attack was the complex of buildings of the residence of the President of the Russian Federation in the Novgorod region,” he said, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.Kostyukov then handed the device to the US military representative. “We want to hand over this controller and the description of this controller made by our specialists to you. We believe that this step will help to remove all questions and contribute to the establishment of the truth,” he said.
How the events unfolded
A drone strike in Russia’s Novgorod region earlier this week was allegedly aimed at the presidential residence. Moscow blamed Ukraine for the attack, an allegation Kyiv denied.Ukraine said Russia had provided no evidence to support its allegation, following which Russia released a video showing a damaged unmanned aerial vehicle lying in snow in a wooded area.US President Donald Trump said he was angry after learning about the reported incident. Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump said, “I don’t like it. It’s not good. I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”By Wednesday, however, Trump appeared more sceptical, sharing on social media a New York Post editorial accusing Russia of obstructing peace efforts in Ukraine.Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Russia would respond to the attack and said the timing and targets of Moscow’s response had already been decided.