While Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, blamed the U.S. Thursday for a reported drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow, U.S. officials have denied the claim.
On Wednesday, two explosions over the Kremlin – the official residence of the Russian president – were caught on video verified by The New York Times. Russia has described the explosions as a Ukrainian drone attack.
“Undoubtedly, such decisions, the definition of goals, the definition of means – all this is dictated to Kyiv from Washington,” said Peskov in a response to CNN questions.
Russia began an invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. As of May 1, 23,375 civilian casualties have been reported in Ukraine, including 8,709 civilians killed and 14,666 civilians injured, according to the United Nations.
Since the invasion began, the U.S. has helped the Ukraine with military aid packages. Per the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. has directed more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine as of this February.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced another $300 million security assistance package for Ukraine Wednesday. This package contains “more ammunition for U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems among other weapons to arm Ukrainian forces against Russia's unprovoked war of aggression.”
“This latest package will help Ukraine continue to bravely defend itself in the face of Russia’s brutal, unprovoked, and unjustified war,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a Wednesday statement. “Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes.”
Even as the U.S. has provided support and battlefield targeting data to Ukraine, leaked secret Pentagon documents revealed that American officials have dissuaded Ukraine from “potentially provocative strikes on Moscow,” according to The New York Times.
“We’ve been clear with them publicly and we’ve been clear privately that we do not encourage, nor do we enable, them to strike outside Ukraine,” said John F. Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, of the apparent Kremlin attack during a Thursday interview on MSNBC. “I can assure you that there was no involvement by the United States in this.”
Ukraine has also denied involvement in the attack, per the Times.
“We still don’t really know what happened, so we’re not making an assessment right now,” Kirby said Thursday. “I did see comments from Dimitri Peskov this morning – Putin’s flack – and I can assure you, there was no involvement by the United States.”
He added that “Peskov is just lying there, plain and simple.”
Other U.S. officials also told POLITICO that the allegations from Russia are false.
“The U.S. was in no way involved,” Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn told the outlet. It said that the U.S. doesn’t know who is behind the drone attack or how it might change the war, citing officials.
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