BRUSSELS — Ukraine on Tuesday criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani and Emirati officials for supporting Russia’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s home was attacked — a claim Kyiv denies.
“Almost a day passed and Russia still hasn’t provided any plausible evidence to its accusations of Ukraine’s alleged ‘attack on Putin’s residence.’ And they won’t. Because there’s none. No such attack happened,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in a post on X.
“We were disappointed and concerned to see the statements by Emirati, Indian, and Pakistani sides expressing their concerns regarding the attack that never happened,” he went on.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday accused Ukraine of launching 91 drones on Putin’s official residence in the Novgorod region, which lies between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Lavrov added that the air defense system shot the drones down.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied the claim and accused Russia of derailing peace talks, following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida Sunday.
“Russia is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team,” Zelenskyy said on Monday, calling the accusations “a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war.”
Russia’s claim, nonetheless, triggered condemnation of the alleged attack from Russia-aligned countries and the United States.
The United Arab Emirate’s foreign ministry said it “denounced this deplorable attack”, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif called it “a heinous act.” India’s Modi said he was “deeply concerned” by the alleged strike.
Trump said that Putin told him about the attack in a phone call.
“I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it,” Trump said.
“It’s a delicate period of time,” he added. “This is not the right time. It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that.”
Putin told Trump that Russia would have to reconsider its position in peace negotiations, dealing a blow to the efforts achieved in the last weeks by the U.S. and Ukraine. Following the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Florida on Sunday, both parties hailed significant progress, with the U.S. offering Ukraine 15 years of security guarantees.



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