Ukrainian drone’s flight plan proves Kiev targeted Putin’s residence – MOD
The flight plan of a Ukrainian drone shot down in Novgorod Region early on Monday proves that its intended target was the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
All 91 long-range UAVs which Kiev launched at the presidential compound on the night of December 28-29 were destroyed, according to the Russian military.
The experts were able to extract a file with the flight plan from the navigation system of one of the downed drones, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The decryption of the data “revealed that the final target of the Ukrainian UAV… was one of the facilities of the Russian presidential residence in Novgorod Region,” it said.
The information collected from the drone will be shared with the US through established channels, according to the statement.
On Wednesday, the ministry published a video of a downed Ukrainian-made Chaklun-V UAV that had been used in the failed attack. It was struck in the tail-end by Russian air defenses and remained mostly intact, which is a “unique” occurrence, it stressed.
The same day, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed American officials, that the US national security team currently believes that Kiev wasn’t trying to strike Putin’s residence, and was attempting to hit a military target also located in Novgorod Region. The conclusion was supported by a CIA assessment that found no attempted attack on the Russian leader, the outlet’s sources claimed.
The drone raid came shortly after US President Donald Trump indicated that the Ukraine peace process was nearing its conclusion, following his meeting with Vladimir Zelensky and a phone call with Putin on Sunday. Trump said on Monday that he was “very angry” about the incident, particularly since it came during “a delicate period of time.”
Russian authorities have condemned the attack as an act of “state terrorism” and promised a response. They also pointed out that the Ukrainian drone raid was not only aimed against Putin, but also “against President Trump’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.”
