A drone carrying 17 kg of lethal bombs crashed not far from the location where Putin was visiting over the weekend.
According to reports, Ukraine used a kamikaze drone loaded with explosives to attempt to kill Vladimir Putin.
According to reports, secret service personnel attempted to assassinate the Russian president but were unsuccessful because the drone “crashed a few miles short of their target.”
On Sunday, the UJ-22 drone, loaded with 17 kg of C4 plastic explosive, was purportedly fired by Ukrainian forces.
Putin was due to visit a newly built industrial estate near Moscow at the weekend, where the drone was supposed to explode and kill him, it was claimed.
But before it reached the Rudnevo industrial park it crashed around 12 miles away, according to German website Bild.
It cited a tweet by Ukrainian activist Yuriy Romanenko, who who claims to have close ties to Kyiv’s intelligence services.
He alleged that Ukrainian secret service agents had received ‘information’ about Putin’s apparent trip, and claimed the drone had crashed in Voroskogo village.
In a tweet cited by Bild, Romanenko said: ‘Putin we are getting closer. Everyone saw the news about the drone that flew to Moscow, but did not explode?
‘So, this drone flew for a reason.
‘Last week, our intelligence officers received information about Putin’s trip to the industrial park in Rudnevo.
‘Accordingly, our kamikaze drone took off, which flew through all the air defenses of the Russian Federation and crashed not far from the industrial park.’
Kyiv has yet to officially comment on the claims.
A UJ-22 drone, which has a range of 500 miles, did crash near Vorokogo village on Sunday, with images posted on social media sites including Telegram showing the destroyed UAV in a forest near Moscow.
The drone was laden with 30 C4 plastic explosive blocks weighing 17 kilograms, which are often used by the US army.
Putin propagandist Paval Zarubin said on Sunday morning that Putin was planning to ‘visit an industrial park in Moscow’ without giving timings.
Video posted on social media showed the lawn in front of the Rudnevo industrial park had been spray painted green.
It was said this was in preparation for Putin’s arrival.
But Russian state media said Putin was set to visit the Rudnevo industrial park and hold a meeting on the development of unmanned aircraft systems today.
TASS news agency said the Russian despot would look at how the systems are developed. There was no mention of the drone incident in the state media report.
However Bild cited Romanenko claiming that there was an assassination attempt.
He said: ‘Considering how much Putin is obsessed with his own security, this story could have huge implications for the Kremlin towers’.
And Ukraine expert Sergej Sumlenny told the newspaper: ‘It is clear that a precision strike against the Russian head of state with a kamikaze drone is an almost impossible action.
‘But the very fact that such a drone would reach a place where Putin plans to stay is a slap in the face for the Russian dictator.’
Putin has previously claimed he has escaped numerous assassination attempts.
In 2017, Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone that there had been five assassination attempts against him – and the only reason he is alive is because he deals with his own security personally.