Claim: Ukraine tried to kill Putin with a drone attack

Question

US officials say they're trying to validate the claim by #Russia that #Ukraine unsuccessfully tried to kill Presiden Putin with a drone attack on his Kremlin residence.

Answer 1

According to Snopes, The New York Times has stated that they verified two videos of what appeared to be drones flying and exploding by the Kremlin State, but did not confirm who was behind the attack.

So far Russia has been the only one to say the source of the drones, blaming Ukraine, but Ukraine is denying this claim and says their fight is only in Ukraine.

No independent news source has been able to identify the source of the attack. The United States and other nations are still trying to verify the source of the attack, along with it’s credibility.

Snopes has deemed there is not enough information currently available.

“Because both sides of the war offered differing accounts of who was responsible for the drone attacks, and no independent reporting had confirmed the sources, we have rated this claim as "Research in Progress." We will update this story when we learn more” (Snopes).

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ukraine-attack-kremlin-in-russia-with-drone/

The New York Times has stated, “If the explosions were indeed a drone attack, the penetration of central Moscow’s air defenses would represent the latest embarrassing failure by a Russian military that has struggled throughout the 14-month war” (The New York Times).

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/03/world/russia-ukraine-kremlin-drone-news

Comments

You bring up good points with the unreliable reporting and the lack of information available at the time, great fact check.

Answer 2

sources: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/03/1173626084/russia-alleges-ukraine-kremlin-drone-attack-putin-assassination-attempt

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/03/vladimir-putin-attack-drones-kremlin/

According to NPR and the Washington Post, Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of attempted assassination/terrorist attack  of Russian President Vladimir Putin through drone strikes. Ukraine has denied any involvement and instead accused Moscow of using the incident as an excuse to escalate its attacks on Ukraine. Around 4:30 pm on Wednesday 4/26 air raids began sounding in the Ukrainian capital but ended a few minutes later without incident. Fears were that Russia was attacking back. 

“As President Zelensky has repeatedly stated, Ukraine directs all available forces and means to liberate its own territories, and not to attack others,” the press secretary, Serhiy Nykyforov, told BBC’s Ukrainian service.

Russian air defenses did shoot down two drones attempting to strike Putin's work residence, though Putin was not in the building during the alleged attack. The U.S Secretary of State could not confirm reports of an attack and that any such accounts from the Kremlin (Russian Government) should be viewed with heavy skepticism. 

"We are not attacking Putin or Moscow. We are fighting on our territory, defending our villages and cities," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters during a visit to Helsinki on Wednesday. "They will invent escalatory schemes every day."

Comments

Good job with fact-checking. Bringing up the validity of the attacks but the unreliability of the reported perpetrator(s) points out and makes clear to the reader the exaggerated/misleading aspect of the story.

Answer 3

This claim seem to be difficult to prove. One one hand it seems that Russia is adamant that Ukraine attempted an overnight attack on Putin's Kremlin residence. This seems to be the opinion of Russian authorities. 

On the other hand, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied Russia's claims that this drone attack took place. They say that they are simply defending their own territories without bringing the fight directly to Putin or Moscow. Ukraine said that Russia is using these attacks as a way to further escalate their own plans. 

As there is no clear evidence of either side's involvement, until there is additional evidence, this claim cannot be determined to be true or false. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/03/1173626084/russia-alleges-ukraine-kremlin-drone-attack-putin-assassination-attempt

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/03/russia-accuses-ukraine-of-trying-to-kill-vladimir-putin-with-kremlin-drone-strike