Russia claims Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin; Kyiv denies

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of a failed attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel in Moscow, and threatened to retaliate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had nothing to do with the reported incident.

"We didn't attack Putin... We fight on our territory, we are defending our villages and cities," Zelensky told reporters at a press conference with Nordic leaders in Helsinki.

"We don't attack Putin or Moscow. We don't have enough weapons for this," he added.

A senior aide to Zelensky called the accusation a sign that the Kremlin was planning a major new attack on Ukraine.

Shortly after the Kremlin announcement, Ukraine reported alerts for air strikes over the capital Kyiv and other cities.

Russia said that two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin.

"As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action," a Kremlin statement said.

"We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president's life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned."

Fragments of drones were scattered in the Kremlin grounds but there were no injuries or damage, it said.

Putin wasn't in the Kremlin at the time and was at his NovoOgaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti.