Ukrainian secret service agents tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin with a kamikaze drone laden with explosives but their top secret mission failed after the UAV crashed a few miles short of their target, it has been claimed.
The Ukrainian forces reportedly launched the UJ-22 drone, laden with 17 kilograms of C4 plastic explosives, from Ukraine on Sunday with the aim of reaching a newly built industrial estate near Moscow where Putin was due to visit, German newspaper Bild claims.
But before the deadly drone reached the Rudnevo industrial park on its apparent mission to assassinate the Russian despot, it crashed mere miles away from the site, Bild claimed while citing a tweet by Ukrainian activist Yuriy Romanenko.
Romanenko, who claims to have close ties to Kyiv’s intelligence services, alleged that Ukrainian secret service agents had received ‘information’ about Putin’s apparent trip to the industrial site and had decided to launch the deadly drone in an attempt to assassinate the president.
He claimed that the kamikaze drone that had crashed in Voroskogo village, 12 miles east of the Rudnevo industrial park was the one that Ukrainian forces had launched as part of the assassination plot.
In a tweet cited by Bild, Romanenko said: ‘Putin we are getting closer. Everyone saw the news about the drone that flew to Moscow, but did not explode? So, this drone flew for a reason.
‘Last week, our intelligence officers received information about Putin’s trip to the industrial park in Rudnevo. Accordingly, our kamikaze drone took off, which flew through all the air defenses of the Russian Federation and crashed not far from the industrial park.’
Kyiv has yet to officially comment on the claims made in Bild.
A UJ-22 drone, which has a range of 500 miles, did crash near Vorokogo village on Sunday, with images posted on social media sites including Telegram showing the destroyed UAV in a forest near Moscow.
The drone was laden with 30 C4 plastic explosive blocks weighing 17 kilograms, which are often used by the US army.
Bild, citing Romanenko, claims that the drone was supposed to crash into Rudnevo industrial park and kill Putin, who was reportedly expected at the site on Sunday.
Putin propagandist Paval Zarubin said on Sunday morning that Putin was planning to ‘visit an industrial park in Moscow’ without giving timings.
Video posted on social media showed the lawn in front of the Rudnevo industrial park had been spray painted green. It was said this was in preparation for Putin’s arrival.
But Russian state media said Putin was set to visit the Rudnevo industrial park and hold a meeting on the development of unmanned aircraft systems today.
TASS news agency said the Russian despot would look at how the systems are developed. There was no mention of the drone incident in the state media report.
However Bild cited Romanenko claiming that there was an assassination attempt.
He said: ‘Considering how much Putin is obsessed with his own security, this story could have huge implications for the Kremlin towers’.
Source: dailymail
