Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are actively developing the unmanned component for mass destruction of the enemy. Since summer 2025, the…
Since 17:00 on December 29, Russia has been conducting an information operation aimed at disrupting the agreements reached between the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States, in particular accusing Ukraine of a deliberate attempt to attack Putin’s residence using 91 UAVs.
This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
The operation began with a corresponding statement by Sergey Lavrov and was widely disseminated by pro-Kremlin media.
“After that, within two hours (until 19:00), Lavrov’s narratives were picked up and expanded by other Russian speakers: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister A. Grushko, Presidential Aide Y. Ushakov, head of the ‘A Just Russia — For Truth’ party S. Mironov, LDPR leader L. Slutsky, and First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee A. Zhuravlyov”, — the statement said.
The FIS noted that such promptness and coordination indicate that the operation was carried out on Putin’s instructions and in accordance with narrative guidelines approved by the Russian Presidential Administration.
“There is a whole range of facts indicating that the information about an attack on Putin’s residence is fake”, — the FIS reported.
Among them:
- Throughout December 29, residents of Novgorod Oblast did not report any UAV attacks or their consequences. We now see how the Kremlin is trying to fix the situation by spreading fake messages in Russian social networks (VKontakte), allegedly on behalf of residents of the city of Valdai.
- The absence of any factual evidence (debris, photos, videos) of downed UAVs, which the Kremlin has been unable to present for almost a full day after the start of the information operation. However, the required “evidence” may be delivered soon.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense twice adjusted its published reports to match Kremlin narratives (initially reporting 18 detected UAVs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, later increasing the number to 23).
“Moscow has repeatedly manipulated the topic of alleged attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces against Russian facilities without evidence and deliberately. In May 2023, it reported a drone attack on the Kremlin. In May 2025, it claimed that during a visit to Kursk Oblast, Putin’s helicopter allegedly ended up in the ‘epicenter of a UAV attack’. Later, sources in the Russian government confirmed that this was staged”, — the FIS recalled.
The Foreign Intelligence Service emphasized that the UAV fake is a nervous reaction by the Kremlin to the progress achieved following negotiations between the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States in Mar-a-Lago.
It was noted that Russia will continue to use the topic of the “attack on Valdai” to justify strengthening its negotiating position, future combined attacks on Ukraine during the New Year holidays, and discrediting the Ukrainian leadership.
“In this context, we hope that the media will properly verify Russian propaganda injections and that they will not be used by the Kremlin as a tool for spreading Russian fakes”, — the FIS wrote.
