The EU’s top diplomat said Moscow’s claims that Ukraine had targeted Russian government sites were “deliberate obstruction” and an attempt to derail the peace process.
Kaja Kalas’ social media remarks appeared to refer to the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine attempted to attack one of President Vladimir Putin’s homes with a drone.
“No one should accept the baseless claims of attackers who have indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians,” Kalas wrote on social media.
Earlier this week, Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in northwestern Russia.
The Kremlin said Russia would reexamine its position in the ongoing peace talks as a result.
Russian state media and politicians have discussed the alleged attack in increasingly inflammatory tones since Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov first shared the claim.
“This attack is an attack on the heart of Russia,” said Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian parliament’s defense committee. “There can be no forgiveness after what (Ukraine) did.”
The Kremlin initially said there was no point in sharing evidence of the alleged attack, but on Wednesday the Russian military released what it said was evidence of an attempted attack.
It included a map showing the drone was launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions and a video of the crashed drone lying in a snow-covered forest. A soldier standing next to the wreckage claims it was a Ukrainian Chaklun drone.
The BBC has not been able to verify the footage, nor has it been able to locate the filming location.
The profile of the wrecked unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is similar to the Ukraine-produced Chaklun, but it cannot be traced back to the Ukrainian military with certainty because the components of the pictured drone are inexpensive and widely available online.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also released a video of a local resident who testified that he heard a rocket-like noise during the attack.
But a Russian investigative media outlet said it had spoken to more than a dozen residents of the area around Putin’s residence and that no one had heard of any of the 91 drones approaching or being shot down by air defenses.
“If that had happened, the whole city would have been talking about it,” one official said.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the evidence presented by Russia was “laughable.” “They are not even serious about fabricating the story,” Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also strongly denied the claims and linked them to the U.S.-led process for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, aides to U.S. President Donald Trump held talks with Zelensky and national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany about ending the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Wittkoff said they discussed “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective conflict resolution mechanisms to end wars and ensure they do not start again.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said European countries and allies scheduled to meet in Paris on January 6 “will make concrete commitments to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace on the European continent.”
In recent weeks, U.S. and Ukrainian delegations have been working closely together, and Prime Minister Zelenskyy has expressed cautious optimism that his country’s demands will be considered.
He said the claims about Tuesday’s drone strike on Putin’s Valdai home were about “the fact that there have been quite successful talks and positive meetings between our teams over the past month, culminating in a meeting with President Trump.”
Russia wanted to disrupt the “positive momentum” between the United States and Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
In the wake of these claims, Zelensky warned that the alleged drone strikes would be used as an excuse to carry out attacks on government buildings in Kiev and Ukraine. There was a brief public alert in the capital on Wednesday night as the drone approached, but no strikes or damage were reported.
Instead, several parts of the country were attacked by drones, while Odessa on the Black Sea suffered a major attack in which an apartment block was attacked and six people, including three children, were injured. More than 170,000 people were without power as temperatures struggled to break above 0C.
Odessa has been under constant attack for several weeks. The intensity of airstrikes appears to have increased since early December when Putin threatened to cut off Ukraine’s maritime access in retaliation for drone attacks on Russian “shadow fleet” tankers in the Black Sea.
With just hours left until the end of the year-long war, many in Kiev have only one wish for 2026.
“We want this all to end. We want this to end and we can live like before,” said 26-year-old Mariya.
Standing outside Kiev’s golden-domed Saint Sophia Monastery, she added: “We have a very beautiful country with enormous potential. Our strength lies in our people. That is why we keep moving forward.”
While she spoke, nearby teenage carolers sang Christmas songs and raised donations for the troops. “We all want victory to come in 2026,” one person said.
Prime Minister Zelenskyy has expressed hope that peace talks involving both U.S. and European officials will resume and accelerate in early January. But any deal will ultimately require Russian consent. This is unlikely to happen, and the drone incident at President Putin’s residence may have pushed this agreement further away.
So, can peace truly come next year? “We really hope so, but we can’t say for sure. We are doing everything we can,” Mariya said.
Next to her, a woman named Ksenia shrugged her shoulders and looked at the sky. “Really, only God knows.”
