Zelensky says Russia is trying to stoke support at home by blaming Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine denied on Wednesday that his nation was chargeable for an early morning drone assault on the Kremlin, saying that Russia was blaming Ukraine as a result of it had misplaced different technique of mustering home assist for its invasion of his nation.

“Russia has no victories to report,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned throughout a go to to Helsinki, the Finnish capital, the place he met with the leaders of 5 Nordic nations. Speaking by means of an interpreter, he mentioned that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, had resorted to claims that Ukraine tried to assassinate him as a result of he had failed on the battlefield and misplaced the respect of the world.

“Because of that, he has to do some unexpected moves like surprise drone attacks,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned in response to a query about Russia’s declare that it had destroyed two Ukrainian drones that had been geared toward Mr. Putin’s residence on the sprawling Kremlin fortress in central Moscow.

Mr. Zelensky flatly denied that his nation had carried out any such assault, saying Ukraine was targeted on the struggle by itself soil. “We’re defending our villages and cities,” he mentioned.

Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky added, didn’t have the weapons to spare on such an assault and that it will be as much as an eventual worldwide tribunal to determine the Russian chief’s destiny.

“We didn’t attack Putin,” he mentioned. “We leave it to the tribunal.”

Mr. Zelensky was in Finland to fulfill with Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, and the leaders of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland to debate subjects together with the conflict in Ukraine and the nation’s bid to hitch NATO. For a lot of the first 12 months of the conflict set off by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Mr. Zelensky remained in Ukraine, however has made a handful of worldwide journeys since visiting the United States and Poland in December.

During a news convention with the Nordic leaders, Mr. Zelensky congratulated Finland for becoming a member of NATO, a course of it accomplished final month, and wished Sweden a speedy completion to its bid to changing into NATO’s thirty second member nation.

“Ukraine can and must be the 33rd member,” he mentioned. “We understand that at a time of aggression, it’s impossible to fulfill Ukraine’s accession to the alliance, but there is no obstacle to it.”