Moscow said it had provided the US with evidence of Ukraine’s attack on Putin’s residence

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the evening of January 1 that it had decoded navigation data from a Ukrainian drone, which it claimed indicated a planned attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence on the night of December 29. According to the military department, it handed over these materials to US representatives.

The Ministry informs that the decrypted routing data, presented in the folder together with the drone component, was given to officials of the office of the US military attache located in the embassy in Moscow. The ministry published a video showing the head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov, handing over the materials.

Ukraine denies the attack and accuses Moscow of using disinformation to justify strikes on government buildings in Kyiv.

Russia claims Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s Valdai residence with 91 drones, all of which were shot down.

The release of the material to the United States appears to be in response to US media reports this week citing CIA data that Ukrainian drones had not been targeted at Putin’s residence, an assessment reportedly passed on to US President Donald Trump.

On December 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Ukraine’s attempt to attack Putin’s residence in Valdai with 91 drones. Only in the evening of December 29, the Russian Ministry of Defense explained what Lavrov’s claims about 91 drones were based on. Initially, the agency reported only 41 drones shot down in one day over the Novgorod region as a whole – not specifically over Putin’s residence.