Trump says that Ukraine didn’t target Putin residence in a drone strike as Kremlin claims
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that U.S. officials have determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to the Russian President Vladimir Putin In a drone attack last week, Objection to Kremlin’s claims Which Trump initially met with deep concern.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Ukraine last week: launched a wave of drones He managed to defeat Russian defenses at Putin’s state residence in the northwestern Novgorod region. Lavrov also criticized Kiev for launching the offensive at a time of intense negotiations to end the war.
The claim came just a day after the Ukrainian President. Volodymyr Zelenskyy He went to Florida to meet with Trump about the US administration’s still-developing relations. 20-point plan aimed at ending the warand Zelenskyy quickly denied it.
Trump said “something happened near” Putin’s residence, but American officials did not detect that the Russian President’s residence was targeted.
“I don’t believe the strike happened,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “Now that we can control it, we don’t believe it happened.”
Trump cited the US determination after European officials argued that Russia’s claim was nothing more than an effort by Moscow to undermine peace efforts.
But Trump appeared to be taking Russia’s allegations at face value, at least initially. Putin also raised the issue in a phone call with the Russian leader that day, he told reporters last Monday. And Trump said he was “very angry” at the accusation.
On Wednesday, Trump downplayed Russia’s claim. On the social media platform, he shared a link to a New York Post editorial casting doubt on Russia’s claim. The editorial blasted Putin for choosing “lies, hatred and death” at a moment when Trump claimed he was “closer than ever” to moving the two sides to a deal to end the war.
US president had trouble keeping his promise to end the war quickly He showed anger at both Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to broker an end to a conflict in Ukraine that he could have ended one day, which he boasted during the campaign.
Both Trump and Zelenskyy said they did last week progress in talks Trump is working on a 20-point peace plan at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia’s goals are met, including taking control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial Donbas region and imposing severe restrictions on the size of Ukraine’s post-war army and the type of weapons it can have.
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Madhani reported from Washington.
