An ally of Putin has threatened to kill Volodymyr Zelensky and put his body on public display in St Petersburg over an alleged bid by Kyiv to ‘assassinate’ the Russian president.
Moscow has claimed that Ukraine launched 91 long-range drones at Putin’s state residence on the shores of Lake Valdai, an allegation which has been hotly denied by Kyiv.
Putin’s security council deputy Dmitry Medvedev issued a direct Kremlin threat to Zelensky’s life, writing on X: ‘The stinking Kiev b*****d is trying to derail the settlement of the conflict.’
‘He wants war. Well, now at least he’ll have to stay in hiding for the rest of his worthless life.’
Medvedev later took to Telegram to say: ‘I will not write here about his violent death, although right now the Grim Reaper is breathing down the b*****d’s neck.
‘It is very important that in the future, after his imminent demise, the green homunculus’s body, preserved in alcohol, be displayed in the Kunstkamera [science museum] in St. Petersburg, where Russian tsars collected freaks for the amusement of their descendants.’
Ukraine claims the drone threat to the Valdai palace was a hoax to enable Russia to carry on Putin’s war rather than engage with Donald Trump’s peace initiative.
‘I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it,’ said Trump on the alleged residence attack.
Russia’s deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev (left) has threatened to kill Volodymyr Zelensky
The threat comes after Moscow claimed that Ukraine launched 91 long-range drones at Putin’s state residence on the shores of Lake Valdai, an allegation which has been hotly denied by Zelenlsky (pictured)
Pictured: Putin’s Valdai residence
He acknowledged that there may not have been an attack and asked if US intelligence agencies had evidence, said: ‘We’ll find out.’
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had alleged: ‘On the night of December 28-29, the Kyiv regime launched a terrorist attack using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the state residence of the President of the Russian Federation in the Novgorod region.
‘All UAVs were destroyed by the air defence systems of the Russian Armed Forces.’
The Russian defence ministry claimed its forces ‘intercepted’ 41 drones over Novgorod region and another 49 flying towards the Putin residence.
Ukrainian sources dismissed the claims as ‘lies’.
Local residents close to the sprawling palace did not report any explosions from air defence activity.
The palace is surrounded by more than 20 modern air defence systems – yet they were apparently silent.
Experts said that the route of any Ukrainian ‘straight-line’ drones would have taken it over a series of Russian air defences that would have stopped them getting anywhere near Putin’s residence.
Lavrov and other Russian officials warned that Putin’s response would be military.
‘Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,’ he said.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrei Sybiha said Russia’s ‘fabricated’ account was to ‘create a pretext and false justification for Russia’s further attacks against Ukraine, as well as to undermine and impede the peace process’.
Putin loyalists have also blamed Britain and its MI6 secret service for the alleged strike.
The alleged strike comes after Trump met Zelenksy in Florida on Sunday and the US president said they were ‘getting a lot closer, maybe very close’ to an agreement to end the war
Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov – decorated last week by Putin – told viewers: ‘It is obvious that this [drone attack on Putin’s residence] is the first serious operation that ended in the failure of MI6 chief [Blaise] Metreweli.
‘There is no doubt that British intelligence is behind this.’
He offered no scrap of evidence.
‘It is absolutely in the spirit of British intelligence to try to destroy the head of state with someone else’s hands.
‘This is their signature move….’
He urged Ukrainians in the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Sumy to ‘leave these cities’, hinting at a nuclear attack.
‘There will be a response, and it will go beyond the usual framework and assessments,’ he said.
‘The games are over, finished. This must be understood very clearly.’
The alleged strike comes after Trump met Zelenksy in Florida on Sunday and the US president said they were ‘getting a lot closer, maybe very close’ to an agreement to end the war.
Trump also spoke to Putin in a phone call on Monday, with the US president stating that the conversation was productive.
‘We have a couple of issues that we’re going to get resolved, hopefully, and if we get them resolved, you’re going to have peace,’ Trump said.
