It marked the first time a drone had targeted Putin’s home region, Leningrad, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

The response to prioritise the palace has, however, stretched thin the defences in the surrounding region and St Petersburg, according to the Russian Telegram channel, VChK-OGPU.

The channel, which claims to have links to Russian security services, said on Sunday that sources reported an “acute shortage of technical means for detecting small air targets and mobile air defence missile systems capable of shooting them down”.

Reports also suggest Putin has been shoring up the defences surrounding his Black Sea estate, an imperial-like dacha reportedly worth $1 billion (£738 million) close to Sochi, since Ukrainian drone attacks began to target the area in October 2023.

The 190,000ft winter palace has been protected by a no-fly zone overhead since 2021 and is rumoured to have a complex tunnel system built for his safety, an ice rink and pole-dancing room.