The Defense Ministry and Foreign Minister Lavrov describe the attack as occurring "on the night of December 28–29" and in the "early hours of December 29", without specifying an exact clock time when the first UAVs appeared. A more detailed Russian?language summary states that 18 drones aimed at the residence were intercepted before 07:00 Moscow time and another 23 between 07:00 and 09:00, which means that 50 drones had already been dispatched by the Russian air defense system. Russian officials said all 91 drones were shot down by air defenses, with no casualties or damage, and vowed unspecified retaliatory strikes; the attack was presented as a terrorist act that would affect Moscow's stance in ongoing peace negotiations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the Novgorod claim as "typical Russian lies," accusing Moscow of using a fabricated or exaggerated incident to justify new strikes on Ukrainian government targets and to harden its negotiating position. International coverage has so far treated the Novgorod episode cautiously, noting that it is difficult to independently verify either Russia's claim of a massive attempted strike on Putin's residence or Ukraine's assertion that the story is manufactured.

So what happened? Although we do not know the precise time that the first drones entered Russian airspace, if the attempted attack started around 2200 hours Moscow time then that is 1400 hours in West Palm, Florida where Volodymyr Zelensky was starting his meeting with Donald Trump. The meeting of the US and Ukrainian delegations lasted until 1700 hours Florida time, followed by a 30 minute press conference. 1700 hours in Florida is 0100 hours in Moscow. That means the attack on Putin's residence was underway while Zelensky was supposed to be talking about peace.

The Ukrainian claim that Russia did this in order to "harden its negotiating position" does not pass the smell test because Russia's position is already hardened. Moscow was not looking for an excuse to hit Ukraine harder… They already are doing so.

Did Zelensky approve the attack? I doubt it. I think this was ordered and executed by Ukrainian intelligence, with assistance from at least the British services, in order to sabotage the talks and damage Zelensky. This was not an actual attack to kill Putin because he has been living in the Kremlin for the last four years in order to reduce his vulnerability to an attack like this. The Ukrainian officials who ordered this were more intent on embarrassing Zelensky than on killing Putin.

I believe this is one more indicator that Zelensky's days are numbered as his opponents in Ukraine, with encouragement from Western intelligence operatives, appear to be maneuvering to replace him and keep the war going. News broke over the weekend that General Zaluzhny, who has been in London for more than a year as the ostensible Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, is heading back to Kiev at the end of this week. The chess pieces in this iteration of Game of Thrones are moving.