Assassination attempt? False flag? Fireworks display gone wrong? You make the call.

Russia is claiming that Ukraine attempted to assassinate Vladimir Putin with drones that exploded over the roof of the Kremlin. The video of said drone attack is here:

Naturally, Russia is vowing retaliation.

Officials say two drones were used in the “assassination attempt” at the president’s residence within the Kremlin compound, but were disabled by Russian defense systems.”

No injuries or damage to the residence was reported. Putin was seen in video and photos released Wednesday meeting with a regional governor outside Moscow.”

The Kremlin called the incident a “terrorist action” and threatened retaliation against Ukraine in reports from state media outlet RIA.”

“The Kremlin has assessed these actions as a planned terrorist act and an assassination attempt on the president on the eve of Victory Day, the May 9 Parade,” RIA said.”

Unconfirmed videos have begun circulating online appearing to show a drone being shot down over the Kremlin, and smoke rising in Moscow.”

“We are looking into the report but aren’t able to validate its authenticity at this time,” a U.S. official told Fox News. The U.S. did not have any advance knowledge or indication of the purported incident, Fox News has learned.”

Riddle me this, Batman – why would very small drones (per Mediaite, they look like quad drones, so not exactly the biggest thing out there) with about as much airspeed velocity as a swallow carrying a coconut while gripping it by the husk, be trying to fly over the Kremlin walls to assassinate Vladimir Putin at 2:27 am Moscow time, when he would likely be inside and asleep? How many open windows are there in the Kremlin during the night, in May?

There were two strikes on the Kremlin, 16 minutes apart – Russian media.

The first drone was spotted over the Kremlin at 2:27 a.m. Moscow time. It exploded over the Senate palace and the palace's roof was set on fire.

The second drone struck at 2:43 a.m. Its fragments fell on… pic.twitter.com/Ml4Vjryqlw

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 3, 2023

As was pointed out by many a skeptic on Twitter, the battery life of a drone that size means that it had to be flown in from nearby, so Ukraine flying it over their border and all the way to Moscow is a no-go. Which means that Russia is trying to say that they think Ukrainian operatives have infiltrated Russia, and are flying drones over the Kremlin wall in the middle of the night in an attempt to take Putin out. Or, as someone on Twitter snarked, it could be insurance fraud for a new Kremlin roof. That’s as likely an option as an actual assassination attempt, in my opinion.

However, this is exactly the kind of propaganda that Putin and Russia could use, especially in light of Russia celebrating “Victory Day,” their anniversary of defeating Nazi Germany. Recent Victory Day celebrations have been used by Putin to stir up Russian nationalism and promote the idea that Ukraine is controlled by Nazis. This year, they are scaling back, and blaming “security concerns” like this drone strike. There are other possibilities, of course… after all, Russia has lost a lot of soldiers in Ukraine, and has spent a lot of money on keeping the war machine going, so it doesn’t have the manpower or funds for widespread Victory Day parades everywhere, and is using this SUPER CONVENIENT ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT to justify having smaller celebrations or none at all.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the celebrations, which mark the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II, as propaganda opportunities. He used 2021 to warn that Russia’s enemies once more followed “much of the ideology of the Nazis,” a rallying cry he repeated throughout his invasion of Ukraine, and in 2022 he marched in the Immortal Regiment procession while holding a picture of his father in military attire.”

However, this year’s celebrations will have much less fanfare as governors in Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh, Oryol and Pskov as well as the Crimean Peninsula have all canceled their parades, The Guardian reported.”

The more famous Red Square procession, which includes displays of military equipment and traditionally occurs with Putin in attendance, will be strictly closed off to the public, and Putin’s attendance is in question following an alleged attempt on his life.”

Russia released a video of an alleged drone attack that it claimed was a Ukrainian attempt to assassinate Putin, but Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine denies the drone attack on the Kremlin and accused Russia of attempting to create a false-flag attempt in order to execute “a large-scale terrorist attack.”

Regional governors across Russia previously cited “safety concerns” over potential strikes against “large numbers of equipment and service members” gathered for the celebrations as a reason to outright cancel parades in some areas.”

Some have argued, however, that the orders have trickled down from the Kremlin, which is worried that the parades may devolve into shows of dissent and protest, the BBC reported.”

In Putin’s Russia, no parade is better than a possible protest. And making sure a drone explodes in a fireball over the Kremlin sure looks good on TV, doesn’t it?

So, I leave it to your judgment, blog readers. Consider the size of the drone, the timing of the explosion (both time of day and time of year), the automatic assumption (assassination attempt!), and the automatic blame (it must be Ukraine!). Is this a true assassination attempt? Is this a false flag to stir up for Putin’s desire for some nationalism ahead of Victory Day, while also creating a convenient excuse for the scaling down of the annual parades? Or is this some dummy in Moscow flying drones over the Kremlin wall, and like the Biden administration shooting down anything that floats after ignoring the Chinese spy balloon, the Kremlin just got trigger happy and blew away someone’s hobby drone, and then tried to make it sound like a bigger deal than it really was? You make the call.

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