“That is precisely why the Russians invented a hoax about an attack on the residence. All they needed was to create a fake — and rather sloppy — pretext for Russia to withdraw from peace efforts that have recently accelerated thanks to active work by Ukraine and the United States,” Tykhyi wrote on X.
On Dec. 30, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was not withdrawing from negotiations over the war in Ukraine but would “harden” its position and conduct dialogue only with the United States. Peskov made the remarks amid false claims about a Ukrainian attack on Putin’s residence. He added that the Kremlin did not intend to publicly explain what the changes in its position would entail. He also accused Ukraine and Western media of trying to deny the alleged “attack” on Putin’s residence.
On Dec. 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine of an “attack with 91 drones” on Putin’s residence in Valdai and threatened a “retaliatory strike.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the statements “another Russian lie” and warned that Russia may be preparing strikes on Kyiv. He urged allies, including the United States and European partners, to pressure Moscow to genuinely seek an end to the war.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War refuted Lavrov’s claims of a Ukrainian “strike” on Putin’s Valdai residence, saying there was no evidence to support them. They also noted that residents of Valdai reported hearing no air defense activity overnight.