UK PM Starmer slams Putin’s claim of Ukrainian attack on residence

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has dismissed the alleged Ukrainian attack on President Vladimir Putin’s state residence in Russia’s northwestern Novgorod region.

Starmer commented on the purported incident after Tuesday’s Paris Declaration, which laid out security guarantees for a “Solid and Lasting Peace in Ukraine”.

He said Putin “is not showing that he is ready for peace,” and accused him of attempting “to distract from peace efforts with unfounded claims of attacks on his residence”.

Starmer noted the “horrific strikes on Ukraine, killing and wounding civilians, and cutting off power from millions of people in the dead of winter” over the last few weeks.

The head of state also berated Russian forces for Monday’s strike on a hospital in Kyiv and urged the Coalition of the Willing to step up support to Ukraine’s defence in 2026.

Ukraine must get “the equipment and backing it needs,” Starmer urged, calling for continued pressure on Russia, including further measures on the oil traders and shadow fleet operators.

The Prime Minister told European and American allies that although they were closer to that goal than ever, “the hardest yards are still ahead…this work is now more advanced than ever.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had alleged Kyiv, on the night of December 28–29, 2025, attacked the location with 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the claim and accused Moscow of disrupting peace talks. President Donald Trump also pushed back after a reported briefing by the CIA’s director, John Ratcliffe.

“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump stated aboard Air Force One. “There is something that happened fairly nearby, but it had nothing to do with this (Putin’s) house.”

On January 1, a senior Russian military chief presented to a U.S. military attache what he said was part of a Ukrainian drone that proved a Russian presidential residence was targeted.