Russian intelligence agencies recovered a flight mission file from one of the drones that Ukrainian Armed Forces had launched to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod on the night of Dec. 29, 2025. They decrypted the routing data. Early on Jan. 1, 2026, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on its Telegram channel:
“During a special technical examination of the navigation system unit of one of the Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles shot down on the night of December [28-]29, 2025, in the airspace over Novgorod Region, representatives of the Russian special services have managed to extract a file containing the flight mission.
“Decryption of the routing data showed that the ultimate target of the Ukrainian UAV attack on December 29, 2025, was one of the facilities of the Russian President’s residence in the Novgorod region. This information will be transmitted to the American side through established channels.”
By mid-afternoon, a representative of the military attaché section at the U.S. embassy in Moscow received the evidence from Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov. Russia’s Ministry of Defense added to their Telegram channel a video of the exchange of an electronic device, what Kostyukov described as a controlling mechanism of a Ukrainian drone, shot down in Novgorod. He stated:
“The decryption of the content of the memory of the navigation controller of the drones carried out by specialists of Russia’s special services confirms without question that the target of the attack was the complex of buildings of the Russian president’s residence in Novgorod region.” He also indicated that the U.S. now has in its hands what is necessary to throw cold water on the hyperventilating media stampede, adding: “We presume that this measure will do away with any questions and allow for the truth to be established.”
