Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack on President Vladimir Putin's residence in the Novgorod region. On Wednesday, Russia's defense ministry released video footage of a downed drone, claiming it had been used in the attack. According to the ministry, the attack was "targeted, carefully planned and carried out in stages."
What the video shows
The night-time footage shows a damaged drone lying in the snow in a forested area.
The video describes the drone as having a high-explosive part "filled with a large number of striking elements and is intended to destroy manpower and civilian objects."
"The target of the drone attack was a protected facility in the Valdai district of the Novgorod region."
Ukraine's response
The alleged attack coincided with a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in Florida.
Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's foreign ministry, dismissed the video as "laughable."
He told Reuters, "This is laughable - both the fact that it took them two days to produce this, and the fact that the things they try to present as evidence basically shows that they are not serious even about fabricating the story."
"We are absolutely confident that no such attack took place."
US officials' statement
{{/usCountry}}"We are absolutely confident that no such attack took place."
US officials' statement
{{/usCountry}}US national-security officials also said that Ukraine did not target Putin or any of his residences in a recent drone strike, WSJ reported. A Central Intelligence Agency assessment reportedly found no attempted attack against Putin, challenging Moscow's claims.
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Viral AI video
Amid the controversy, a 15-second video showing drones striking Putin’s residence went viral on social media, garnering millions of views.
However, X (formerly Twitter) fact-checked the clip, noting, "This video is AI generated. Notice that the vehicle leaves no tire tracks in fresh snow that it has just driven through. The poor audio quality, 15 second length, and small explosions with no damage are also characteristic of AI-generated videos."
Users also pointed out inconsistencies.
One person wrote, "This is ai generated. Car leaves no tracks in the snow."
Another added, "Of all the sloppiest parts of this AI garbage, that's not even putin's house."
A third user commented, "Just wondering why a camera in russia filming Putin camera is in english?"