CIA assesses Ukraine was not targeting a Putin residence in drone attack, contrary to Kremlin claim, sources say
By Kevin Liptak, Zachary Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — The CIA has assessed Ukraine was not targeting a residence used by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent drone attack in the north of his country, according to US officials, undercutting an assertion the Russian leader had made to President Donald Trump in a Monday phone call.
The CIA’s director John Ratcliffe briefed Trump on the assessment Wednesday, the officials said.
Russia had publicly raised allegations Ukraine attempted to hit Putin’s home Monday, and Trump told reporters Putin had told him of it over the phone. At the time, the president said he was troubled by the reported action, seeming to believe the Russian leader even as Ukraine strenuously denied it was behind any such attack.
“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump said, describing himself as “very angry” upon hearing the claim.
He conceded it was “possible” the allegation was false and such an attack had not occurred, then added, “But President Putin told me this morning it did.”
Sources said Ratcliffe later briefed Trump that the CIA did not believe it was true. And on Wednesday, Trump appeared to have adopted a more skeptical posture toward posting, posting a link to a New York Post editorial on Truth Social with the headline, “Putin ‘attack’ bluster shows Russia is the one standing in the way of peace.” The Post’s editorial board noted it was “rich that Putin, who has waged a brutal war for nearly four years, believes that any violence in his vicinity merits special outrage” and asserted that “Any attack on Putin is more than justified.”
“But here’s the rub: The drone strike likely never happened. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky vigorously denied it. (Kremlin spokesman Dmitry) Peskov said the Russians could provide no evidence, and urged the press to ‘take the Kremlin’s word for it. No, we won’t,” the board wrote.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. The CIA declined to comment.
Putin’s claim of an attack — and the subsequent US assessment that it wasn’t true, first reported by the Wall Street Journal — came amid intensive talks led by Trump and his envoys to end the war in Ukraine.
Putin levied the allegation a day after Trump met Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago, and emerged optimistic on progress to broker a peace in the conflict.
Some European officials said the claim was an attempt by Putin to derail the peace efforts while not catching Trump’s blame.
Others have also cast doubt on the Russian claim. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that it was a “deliberate distraction.”
The defense ministry in Moscow said Wednesday that 91 drones had been launched from northern Ukraine against Putin’s residence near Valdai in the Novgorod region of northwestern Russia.
More than half had been intercepted several hundred kilometers away, the ministry said, without specifying how it knew they were destined for Valdai. The rest had been intercepted over Novgorod between 3 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. local time on Monday, according to the ministry.
The ministry published a map purporting to show the path of the drones and where they had been brought down.
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