Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev is calling for retailiation against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
What Happened: “After today’s terrorist attack, there are no options left but the physical elimination of Zelensky and his clique,” Medvedev wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday, referring to a reported assassination attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Video released earlier in the week showed an explosion over Putin’s residence. No one was injured.
“Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services using radar warfare systems, the devices were disabled,” Russia said in a report. Zelenskyy and Ukraine have stated that they had nothing to do with the attack.
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Medvedev, a close ally of Putin and a key Russian security official, went on to say that Zelenskyy is not needed to get Ukraine’s “unconditional surrender.”
“Hitler, as we know, didn’t sign a surrender agreement either. There will always be some replacement, like figurehead president Admiral Dönitz,” Medvedev said, referring to Karl Dönitz, who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in 1945.
Why It’s Important: Claims of an assassination attempt on Putin and calls for retaliation could quickly escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin is issuing statements saying it now reserves the right to retaliate against responsible parties, insisting that the explosion was “a planned terrorist attack and an attempt on the president.”
Zelenskyy denies involvement.
“We fight on our territory; we’re defending our buildings and cities. We don’t have enough weapons for this,” Zelenskyy said. “For us, that is a deficit — we can’t spend it. We didn’t attack Putin. We leave it to the (United Nations) tribunal.”
Leaked documents show that Ukraine has held back from attacking Moscow, the Russian capital, at the request of the U.S.
“As Zelenskyy has stated numerous times before, Ukraine uses all means at its disposal to free its own territory, not to attack others,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian president said.
The U.S. has not been able to validate the source of the reported attack.
“I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt. We’ll see what the facts are,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
Earlier this week, the White House announced plans to send an additional $300 million in weapons for support to Ukraine. The country has now sent over $36.4 billion in support to the country since President Joe Biden took office, according to the report.
Next: Putin Ally Warrns Immediate Use Of Russian Nuclear Weapons If US Deploys Nukes In Ukraine
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