Russian FM Lavrov lambasts Ukraine's Zelenskyy over Kremlin drone attack

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that Kyiv and Washington’s denial that they were involved in the drone attack on Kremlin should not be trusted. On Friday, the Russian diplomat called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “puppet” at the hands of the West, as he addressed the media at the foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Sputnik reported. Earlier this week, the country was jolted after two drones struck the Kremlin, the official residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The attack was called an assassination attempt on the Russian president and initiated a blame game from both sides. While Russia blamed both Ukraine and the US, some didn’t let go of the possibility that the whole thing can be staged. 

"If you believe that just because the United States and Ukraine have denied the allegations, we should jettison what we know, that's not how it works," Lavrov said during a press conference at the FM meet which is being organised in Goa, Sputnik reported. “We realise that everybody is going to recognise what happened. There is a growing understanding between US and Ukraine. Without resolving West's desire, no crisis will be settled. Zelenskyy is a puppet at the hands of the West,” he added. Similar assertions were made by Kremlin Press Secretary Dimitry Peskov who blamed the US for the attack. “Decisions on such terrorist attacks are made not in Kyiv, but in Washington. We know that often it isn’t even Kyiv that determines the targets, but Washington,” Peskov said during a daily briefing on Thursday. “It’s very important that Washington understands that we know this and understands how dangerous such direct involvement in the conflict is,” he added.

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The US calls the allegations ludicrous 

After Persokv hurled accusations against the US over the drone attack, Washington came out with his own statement and called the assertions made by the Russian diplomat ludicrous. "I would just tell you Mr. (Dmitry) Peskov's lying. I mean, it's obviously a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this. We don't even know what happened here," said John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. "But I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever," he added, as per the report by CNN. The US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also asserted that Washington does not have enough information to assess the Kremlin attack. “You've seen the Ukrainian government deny their having engaged in this. And, at this stage we don't have information that would allow us to provide an independent assessment on this,” Haines asserted. 

Meanwhile, in the SCO press briefing, the Russian Foreign Minister thanked his counterparts from around the world who expressed their concerns over the attack. "As for the terrorist attack on the Kremlin and the residence of the head of state, all our assessments were set out. Almost all of my counterparts with whom we spoke yesterday expressed their condemnation,” he concluded. According to Sputnik, the Russian diplomat made it clear that Moscow has not given up on the prospects of sitting at the negotiation table with Ukraine, despite the fact that the West is still pumping weapons into the war-stricken country.