Russian claim that Washington was behind drone attack is ludicrous, says US

The US dismissed Russia's allegation on Thursday that Washington was behind what it said was a drone attack on the Kremlin, saying Moscow's assertion was a lie.

“Obviously it's a ludicrous claim,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said hours after Russia blamed the US for what it called an attack aimed at killing President Vladimir Putin.

“The United States has nothing to do with it. We don't even know exactly what happened here, but I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever,” Kirby said on CNN.

He added that the US does not encourage or enable Ukraine to strike outside its borders and does not endorse attacks on individual leaders. Ukraine denied launching any drones on the Kremlin.

It was still unclear what occurred and the US is still assessing the situation, Kirby said.

“We still don't really know what happened,” he told MSNBC.

Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the US was “undoubtedly” behind Wednesday's “attack”, without providing evidence.

“Peskov is just lying, pure and simple,” Kirby said, adding that Putin was “the aggressor” in Ukraine and could end the conflict by withdrawing from territory he invaded in February 2022.

On CNN, Kirby said he was not aware of any specific intelligence that Russia was targeting Nato's critical infrastructure.

Nato's intelligence chief warned on Wednesday that Russia may sabotage undersea cables to punish western nations for supporting Ukraine, as the alliance boosts efforts to protect such infrastructure after Nord Stream attacks in September.

“It's something we've been mindful of and watching as best we can since almost the beginning of the war,” Kirby added. “We're watching this very, very closely.”