NEW YORK, January 3. /TASS/. Ukraine committed suicide by launching terrorist attacks against Russia, Former US intelligence officer and ex-UN inspector Scott Ritter stated.
"Ukrainians have committed suicide. They just don't realize it yet," he said on the radio program of American journalist and political activist Randy Credico.
Commenting on the Ukrainian armed forces' attempt to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin's state residence in the Novgorod region on the night of December 29, 2025, Ritter suggested that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) may have been involved in the operation.
"Either the CIA is a rogue institution that attempted to kill the Russian president without the knowledge and consent of the president united states, or the president is a liar, and sat there with Zelensky knowing that this attack was taking place, and feigned surprise. Neither one of those options is a good option. <…> Had the situation been reversed and America subjected to a similar attack, I can guarantee you the outcome would have been extremely violent and could have triggered a nuclear war," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that on the night of December 28-29, Kiev launched an attack using 91 UAVs on the residence in the Novgorod Region. All the drones were destroyed. As the minister noted, there was no information about casualties or damage from UAV debris.
Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said that Putin in his most recent phone call with US President Donald Trump drew attention to the Kiev attack that took place "virtually immediately" after the US-Ukraine talks at Mar-a-Lago and warned that it would not remain "without the most serious response." The head of state also told the American leader that Russia's position in the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine would be revised.