Ex-Russian president urges retaliation against 'Ukraine's attack on Kremlin'

A senior Russian security official urges retaliation against an earlier drone attack on the Kremlin, which Moscow has denounced as a direct assassination attempt by Kiev against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"After today’s terrorist act, there are no options left but the physical removal of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and his clique,” Dmitry Medvedev, himself a former Russian president, who is currently serving as the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.

Moscow said earlier that two drones had been used in the attack on Putin’s residence in the Kremlin’s citadel overnight, adding that the aircraft had been disabled using electronic defenses.

A Kremlin statement called the incident a "terrorist attack" by Ukraine.

The Kremlin has asserted that "the Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit."

Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of Russia's Parliament, has, meanwhile, demanded the use of "weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kiev terrorist regime."

The developments came amid an ongoing special operation by Russia in Ukraine.

Russia launched the special operation last February to stop Kiev's persecution of the pro-Russian population in eastern Ukraine and also to "de-Nazify" the ex-Soviet republic.

ME