Putin tells Trump that Russia will respond forcefully to Ukrainian attacks
U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him very strongly in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields as the deadlock over the war drags on.
The call comes as the U.S. leads a diplomatic push to broker a peace deal following nearly 3½ years of war.
Trump said in a social media post that his lengthy call with Putin was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.
It’s the first time Trump has weighed in on Ukraine’s daring attack inside Russia. The U.S. did not have advance notice of the operation, according to the White House, a point Trump emphasized during the call with Putin, according to Putin’s foreign affairs adviser.
Trump, in his post, did not say how he reacted to Putin’s promise to respond to Ukraine’s attack, but it showed none of the frustration that Trump has expressed with his Russian counterpart in recent weeks over his prolonging of the war.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said at a briefing that the two leaders characterized the call as positive and quite productive.
I believe it was useful for Trump to hear our assessments of what happened, Ushakov said, noting that the discussion of the attacks was one of the key topics.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media: Many have spoken with Russia at various levels. But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war. Unfortunately, Putin feels impunity.
The Ukrainian leader urged more pressure on Russia and said that Putin’s planned response means, that with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world — to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it.
Trump has repeatedly promised to end the war quickly but lost patience in recent weeks, publicly pleading with Putin to stop fighting and even saying the Russian leader has gone absolutely CRAZY.
The call was Trump’s first known talk with Putin since May 19. They also discussed, according to Trump and Ushakov, Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of Russia engaging in talks with Tehran.
