Ukrainian agents apparently attempted to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin with a drone that had been equipped with explosives. However, the mission appears to have failed after the drone crashed several miles from its target, per the Daily Mail.
Yuriy Romanenko, who is said to have close ties to Ukraine’s intelligence services, suggested that Ukrainian agents had received intel that Putin was apparently set to visit an industrial site around Moscow and decided to act.
However, the explosives-ridden drone never made it to its target, crashing to the ground in Voroskogo village before it reached the Rudnevo industrial park. The Ukrainian forces allegedly deployed the UJ-22 drone, which was equipped with 17 kilograms of C4 plastic explosives, from the country on Sunday with the hopes of killing the Russian leader, per Bild.
Romanenko took to Twitter on Monday, saying: “Putin, we are getting closer.”
“Everyone saw the news about the drone that flew to Moscow, but did not explode?" he wrote. "So, this drone flew for a reason. Last week, our intelligence officers received information about Putin's trip to the industrial park in Rudnevo. I even managed to get a map of the trip around the park.”
“This information was indirectly confirmed," Romanenko said, vby Putin's personal correspondent Zarubin in his Telegram. Accordingly, ours launched a kamikaze drone, which flew through all the air defenses of the Russian Federation, and fell not far from the industrial park. When in the morning it became known about the drone in the Kremlin, a real commotion began. Peskov wrote about Putin's new schedule - to work in the Kremlin. Serious checks of plums have begun in the FSO.”
“Considering how much Putin is obsessed with his own security, this story could have huge implications for the Kremlin towers.”
However, Kyiv has yet to comment on whether the drone belonged to them or not. The C4 explosives that were discovered in the drone are often those used by the army for military purposes.
The revelation of the failed drone assassination came just before Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week. Though the reported hope is that the two parties continue to improve “bilateral relations,” it is unclear how much of an impact Xi will have on the impact of the war in Ukraine.