Calling US Accusations Behind Drone Attack on Kremlin Ridiculous, White House: Peskov Lies

JAKARTA - The United States (US) dismissed Russia's accusations on Thursday that Washington was behind what it said was a drone attack on the Kremlin, saying Moscow's statement was a hoax.

"Clearly those are ludicrous claims," ​​White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, hours after Russia blamed the United States for what it called an attack aimed at killing President Vladimir Putin.

"The United States had nothing to do with it. We don't even know exactly what happened there, but I can assure you that the United States had no role whatsoever in it," Kirby insisted on CNN.

Kirby said the United States does not encourage or allow Ukraine to carry out attacks beyond its borders, and does not support attacks on individual leaders.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side denied launching a drone towards the Kremlin.

Kirby said it was still unclear what exactly was going on in the Kremlin and the United States was still assessing the situation.

"We still don't really know what happened," he told MSNBC.

Earlier, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States was "without a doubt" behind Wednesday's alleged attack, without providing evidence.

"Peskov is just lying, pure and simple," Kirby said.

Kirby added that Putin was the "aggressor" in Ukraine and could end the conflict by withdrawing from the invaded Ukrainian territories in February 2022.

Kirby also said he was not aware of any specific intelligence that Russia was targeting critical NATO infrastructure systems.

Earlier reported, NATO intelligence officials warned, Russia may be sabotaging undersea cables to punish Western countries for supporting Ukraine, as the alliance steps up efforts to protect underwater infrastructure, following the attack on Nord Stream in September last year.

"This is something that we have been watching and monitoring as best we can since almost the start of the war. We are watching this very, very closely," he concluded.