As the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on, a US official has described Russia's claim that the United States was involved in a drone attack on the Kremlin as "ludicrous".
On Wednesday, May 3, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of carrying out the alleged drone attack, and the following day, Thursday, May 4, Mr Putin's spokesman said it had been done with US support.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council at the White House, described the claim as "ludicrous".
The attack happened on Tuesday, May 2, and saw two drones being brought down by Russian air defences, according to officials in Moscow. The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of trying to kill President Vladimir Putin in the attack.
Ukraine has denied carrying out the strike and claims it was staged by Russia. Putin's spokesperson accused the US of involvement on Thursday, May 4 - something Moscow has done previously in an effort to generate domestic support for the way.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters during a daily conference call that the Kremlin was "well aware that the decision on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington."
"And then Kyiv does what it's told to do," Peskov continued.
US intelligence officials are still trying to figure out exactly who was behind the drone attack and are said to be exploring a variety of possibilities.
A US official has said they are looking into whether it was a false flag operation by Russia, or whether a fringe group with sympathies for Ukraine could have been involved. But the official, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said intelligence officials don't have any definitive answers yet.
They added the Biden administration "certainly would not support the strike against Mr Putin." While John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council at the White House slammed the claim as "ludicrous."
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine's top adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak has claimed Russia "staged" the alleged attack. He cited the delay in Russian state media's reporting and "simultaneous video from different angles" that appeared to show the aftermath of the alleged attack, which took place at 2.30am.
Analysing the evidence, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also said it saw evidence of staging. The think tank said: "Russia likely staged this attack in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilisation".
The ISW went on to say that given Russia's recent moves to bolster security, it's "extremely unlikely that two drones could have penetrated multiple layers of air defence and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera".
In response to Zelensky's denials of involvement with the drone 'attack', the Kremlin promised unspecified retaliation to what it called a "terrorist" act, with pro-Kremlin figures calling for the assassinations of senior Ukraine leaders.
On Sunday evening, April 30, a drone was shot down over the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, also not far from the presidential office. Officials later admitted this one had been a Ukrainian drone that had "lost control" and been destroyed to avoid "undesirable consequences".
