White House says Kremlin ‘lying’ about US role in drone attack

WASHINGTON (AFP): The White House on Wednesday denied any involvement in an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, after Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of guiding Ukraine to launch the assault.

“We had nothing to do with this,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, on MSNBC.

“Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple,” he added.

Russia alleges that Ukraine carried out a “terrorist attack” overnight Tuesday into Wednesday with two drones, aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin, a charge which Kyiv has denied.

Peskov, Putin’s longtime press secretary, said earlier Wednesday that “decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington.”

“Kyiv only does what it is told to do,” he added.

The incident at the Kremlin comes amid several other recent explosions and trail derailments on Russian and occupied Ukrainian territory.

Kirby reiterated in his interview to MSNBC on Wednesday that Washington does not support or condone attacks by Ukraine outside its borders.

“We’ve been clear with them publicly and we’ve been clear with them privately that we do not encourage nor do we enable them to strike outside Ukraine,” he said.