Overview
- At a Dec. 31 briefing, Russia’s Aerospace Forces said they detected an attack at about 19:20 Moscow time on Dec. 28 by fixed‑wing drones launched from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions toward the presidential residence in Novgorod region.
- The military presented a timeline and map asserting that 91 drones were intercepted over Bryansk, Smolensk and Novgorod regions, including 41 downed over Novgorod through the morning of Dec. 29.
- Officials released video and images of wreckage and said at least one downed drone carried an explosive charge of roughly six kilograms, while reporting no casualties or damage to the residence.
- Ukraine denies conducting the strike, and independent analysts and local reporting note an absence of corroborating open‑source indicators such as geolocated videos, air‑defense activity recordings or regional alerts near Valdai.
- Russian officials say the incident will prompt a reassessment of Moscow’s negotiating stance, as the Kremlin signals potential responses even as Western officials state they cannot yet verify what occurred.