Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country did not attack Moscow or Russian President Vladimir Putin, denying Russia's claim that Ukraine was behind an alleged overnight drone attack aimed at hitting Putin's residence inside the Kremlin.
"We don't attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory," Zelenskiy told a news conference on May 3 in Helsinki.
The Kremlin earlier accused Ukraine of attempting to hit Putin's residence with two drones that the Kremlin press service said were destroyed "as a result of timely action by the military and special services."
There was no independent verification of the reported attack. The Kremlin’s website said debris from the drones fell on the Kremlin grounds without causing damage.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement that Russia considers the action "a planned terrorist act and an attempted attack against the president" and "reserves the right to carry out responsive measures."
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The statement notes that it occurred ahead of Victory Day on May 9 and that a military parade scheduled on the date is expected to be attended by international guests. The alleged drone attack will not affect plans to hold the parade, Peskov said.
Earlier on May 3, Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukraine’s presidential office, denied Kyiv’s involvement in any attacks on Russian territory, including the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.
"The emergence of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles at energy facilities or on Kremlin’s territory can only indicate the guerrilla activities of local resistance forces," Podolyak said on Twitter.
"The loss of power control over the country by Putin’s clan is obvious. But on the other hand, Russia has repeatedly talked about its total control over the air. In a word, something is happening in RF, but definitely without Ukraine's drones over the Kremlin," he tweeted shortly after the statement by Kremlin.
According to Podolyak, "Russia is clearly preparing a large-scale terrorist attack. That's why it first detains a large allegedly subversive group in Crimea. And then it demonstrates "drones over the Kremlin."
He said Ukraine has been waging "an exclusively defensive war" and does not attack targets on the territory of Russia, adding, "This does not solve any military issue."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington, said he had seen the reports but “I can’t in any way validate them. We simply don’t know.” He added that it was "hard to comment or speculate on this without really knowing what the facts are.”