Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that Ukraine had tried to attack President Vladimir Putin's residence in northern Russia and so Moscow's negotiating position would be reviewed, but Ukraine has said it was a lie.
Russia claimed on Monday that Ukraine attacked the presidential residence in the Novgorod region overnight with 91 long-range drones, which were all destroyed by Russian air defences. No one was injured, and there was no damage, Lavrov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the accusation was a lie, adding that Moscow was preparing the ground to strike government buildings in Kiev.
He said the Russian claim was an attempt to undermine peace talks.
Lavrov said that targets had already been selected for retaliatory strikes by Russia's armed forces. "Such reckless actions will not go unanswered," he said, adding that the attack amounted to "state terrorism."
A ‘positive call’
Lavrov noted that the attack took place during negotiations about a possible Ukrainian peace deal and that while Russia would not leave the negotiations, Moscow's position will be reviewed.
It was not immediately clear if Putin was in the Dolgiye Borody, or Long Beards, residence, which has been used in the past by Josef Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Boris Yeltsin.
Putin on Monday told his army to press on with an offensive to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine after a Russian commander said Moscow's forces were 15 km (9.3 miles) from its biggest city.
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that US President Donald Trump concluded a "positive call" with Putin concerning the war in Ukraine on Monday.
No additional details were immediately provided.
The conversation marked the second call between the leaders in two days, following their earlier discussion before Trump's Sunday meeting with Zelenskyy in Florida.
