Explosions across Ukraine hours after 'Putin assassination attempt'

Vladimir Putin last night fired a barrage of missiles and kamikaze drones in retaliation to the botched ‘assassination attempt’ hours before.

Around 40 bomb-filled drones with ‘for Moscow’ scrawled on them were fired at cities across Ukraine in the early hours.

Explosions could heard in Kyiv and the southern cities of Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. 

The strikes came just a few hours after Moscow accused Ukraine of trying to kill Putin in a double drone strike on the Kremlin.

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However Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied the claims.

Overnight Putin launched 24 Shahed drones packed with explosives at Kyiv, with another 15 suicide UAVs unleashed on Odesa by the Black Sea but Ukraine’s air force managed to intercept the vast majority of the weapons.

Missiles and drones also rained down on the southern city of Nikopol, destroying 11 Ukrainian homes and injuring a 32-year-old man. No deaths have been reported from the strikes so far.

The blasts come after Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev yesterday called for the ‘physical elimination’ of Zelensky amid accusations that Kyiv was trying to kill Putin in an alleged drone strike on the Kremlin.

But Zelensky denied Moscow’s claims and British security officials believe the drone strike on the Kremlin was a cynical ‘false flag’ operation by Russia in order to distract Ukraine from its counter-offensive and rally up support back home.

Former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Simon Mayall said: ‘There are conspiracies theories that either side could have done it’ speaking about the attack,

He said it is more ‘plausible’ that Russia did it to change ‘the narrative.’

Moscow had claimed two Ukrainian kamikaze drones exploded over Putin’s Kremlin residence in the early hours in ‘a planned terrorist act and assassination attempt’.

Medvedev said in response: ‘After today’s terrorist attack, there are no options left aside the physical elimination of Zelensky and his cabal.’

And hours later, the Kremlin issued a statement saying it ‘reserves the right to take retaliatory measures wherever and whenever is deemed necessary’.

But Zelensky denied carrying out the attack or attempting to assassinate Putin, saying: ‘We didn’t attack Putin. We leave it to the tribunal. We fight on our territory, we are defending our villages and cities.’

And while Ukraine has demonstrated the capability to launch such attacks on the Kremlin, Kyiv is considered unlikely to risk fracturing international support by targeting the dictator directly.

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