Ukraine 'tried to assassinate Putin by blowing him up with drone loaded with explosives'

Ukraine’s military attempted to assassinate Vladimir Putin by blowing up the Russian President with a kamikaze drone loaded with explosives, it has been claimed. The failed strike allegedly happened near Rudnevo industrial park, near Moscow, which the Russian leader planned to visit on Sunday.

According to German website Bild, a UJ-22 drone took off in Ukraine on Sunday afternoon. It is the most modern Ukrainian medium-range drone with a range of up to 800 kilometres.

The goal was to reach the industrial park near Moscow, 500 kilometres from Ukraine.

Ukrainian activist Yuriy Romanenko, who is said to have close ties to Kyiv’s intelligence services, said in a letter claiming responsibility: “Last week our intelligence officers received information about Putin’s trip to the Rudnevo industrial park.

“Accordingly, our kamikaze drone took off, which flew through all the air defences of the Russian Federation and crashed not far from the industrial park.”

Several private Russian media reported a UJ-22 drone crash near the village of Voroskogo, east of Moscow. The crash site is about 20 kilometres east of the Rudnevo Industrial Park.

Recordings show that there were 30 C4 explosive blocks with a total weight of 17 kilograms on board the drone.

The explosive charges of the type M112 are used by the US Army and the armed forces of Canada, among others.

Putin’s personal Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin said on Sunday morning that the President was planning to “visit an industrial park in Moscow”.

When exactly the visit should take place, he did not say.

Russian passers-by published photos from the Rudnevo industrial park on Sunday afternoon, which showed a gray lawn in front of the main building that had also been sprayed with green paint, which showed an indication of the imminent arrival of the Russian leader as citizens regularly want to showcase a “thriving Russia”.

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However, it is unclear whether Russia’s head of state wanted to visit the industrial park on Sunday or only on Monday – for security reasons.

Putin’s visits are sometimes carried out the day before they are announced.

︎Ukraine could therefore not be sure whether the visit would take place “at the beginning of the week” on Sunday or Monday.

Putin has not been there until today, April 27.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: “Russian President Vladimir Putin works in the Kremlin. The head of state is not planning any major public events.”

Ukraine expert Sergej Sumlenny told German media: “It is clear that a precision strike against the Russian head of state with a kamikaze drone is an almost impossible action. But the very fact that such a drone would reach a place where Putin plans to stay is a slap in the face for the Russian dictator.”

Ukraine activist Yuri Romanenko, who publicly claimed responsibility for the Ukrainian attack, wrote on Twitter: “Putin, we are getting closer and closer to you.”

source: express.co.uk