Russia on Wednesday released the video of a downed drone which it claimed was used by Ukraine to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region.
Kyiv, however, dismissed the footage as “laughable”.
The video released by Russian defence ministry included footage of a serviceman standing next to fragments of a device which he said was a downed Ukrainian Chaklun-V drone carrying a 6-kg explosive device which had not detonated, reported Reuters.
Another footage featured a man, identified as Igor Bolshakov from a village in the Novgorod region, saying he had heard air defence rockets in action.
However, Moscow did not explain how it knew what the device’s target was.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry, which has already denied such an attack, dismissed the video footage as “laughable”.
“This is laughable – both the fact that it took them two days to produce this, and the fact that the things they try to present as evidence basically shows that they are not serious even about fabricating the story,” Heorhii Tykhyi, a foreign ministry spokesperson, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the US national security officials have found that Ukraine did not target Putin or any of his residences in a recent drone strike.
The conclusion was supported by a CIA assessment that found no attempt to target Putin or one of his residences, the report claimed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier this week alleged that Ukraine had tried to attack Putin’s residence in the northern Novgorod region with dozens of drones.
Attack on Putin’s house: Russia releases video of downed drone; Ukraine calls it ‘laughable’
