The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has determined that Ukraine did not attack Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences, U.S. media have reported.
Various media, including the Wall Street Journal as well as the broadcasters PBS and CNN cited unnamed U.S. government officials in their reports published on Wednesday evening contradicting serious accusations made by Moscow at the start of the week.
Initially, U.S. President Donald Trump also criticized Ukraine for the alleged attack after a conversation with Putin.
Kiev has vehemently denied attacking one of Putin's residences, saying instead it was a Russian pretext to continue the war against Ukraine despite ongoing peace negotiations and to once again target government buildings in Kiev with missiles.
On Wednesday, Russia presented possible evidence of the attack for the first time, including remnants of a purportedly Ukrainian drone. Many experts doubt that the attack described by Russia took place as claimed.
Citing U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that the controversial Ukrainian drone attack was aimed at a military target in the same region as one of Putin's residences - but not near the estate. This is also supported by a CIA analysis, the report said.
PBS and CNN reported that Trump was briefed on Wednesday by CIA Director John Ratcliffe about the intelligence findings.
Later the same day, Trump unexpectedly shared an article by the tabloid New York Post that was very critical of Russia on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The New York Post portrayed Putin as the real obstacle on the path to peace and criticized him harshly in the report.
