US denies involvement in Kremlin drone attack, says Russia is ‘lying’

TORONTO

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday denied claims that the US was behind the drone attack on Kremlin, saying Moscow is "lying."

"Mr. Peskov is lying. I mean, it's obviously a ludicrous claim. The United States had nothing to do with this... I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever," Kirby told CNN, referring to the Kremlin spokesman.

When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin was a legitimate and lawful military target, Kirby said: "I don't think it's useful to get into a legal discussion here. We don't endorse, we don't encourage, we don't support attacks on individual leaders."

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukraine attempted to strike the residence with two drones, which, it said, were shot down on Tuesday night.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have since denied Kyiv’s involvement in the drone attack.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the US of being behind the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin residence.

“We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv but in Washington,” Peskov said.