On Sunday, President Trump told reporters that US officials have confirmed that Ukraine did not target Russian President Putin’s residence in last week’s drone attack, contrary to the Kremlin’s previous accusations.
Initially, Trump expressed deep concern over the accusation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed last week that Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin’s national residence in the northwestern Novgorod region, which were defeated by Russian defense systems. Lavrov criticized Ukraine for launching such attacks while peace talks between Russia and Ukraine were intensively ongoing.
The day before Lavrov made the accusation, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy had just traveled to Florida to meet with Trump to discuss the US government’s ongoing “20-point plan” aimed at ending the war. Zelenskyy promptly denied the Kremlin’s accusation.
On Sunday, Trump stated that “something did happen” near Putin’s residence, but US officials did not find evidence that the building was the target of the attack.
After spending two weeks in Florida, Trump returned to Washington on Sunday and told reporters, “I do not believe that attack happened. Since we have been able to verify, we do not believe that occurred.”
Previously, Ukrainian and European officials had refuted Russia’s claims, stating that Russia concocted a “false flag operation” to disrupt the US-led peace negotiations. Trump later made the above statement based on the US investigation results.
Last Monday, Trump told reporters that Putin mentioned the incident during their earlier call that day, and Trump expressed “shock” at the accusation.
Trump has been working to end the Ukraine war as soon as possible. Last week, both he and Zelenskyy indicated progress in their talks at Mar-a-Lago. Zelenskyy even claimed that the peace agreement was “nearly 90% complete.” However, Russian President Putin’s response was very indifferent, with the Kremlin even arguing that this number was “out of touch with reality.”
Putin insists that negotiations must be based on “local reality.” This means that Russia demands Ukraine to recognize Russia’s occupation of territories including Donbas, and accept strict demilitarization restrictions, including limitations on the size of the Ukrainian post-war military and the types of weapons they can possess.
(Reference: Associated Press report)