On Air Force One– US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that US officials have concluded that Ukraine did not target the Russian president’s residence. Vladimir Putin In a drone attack last week, Refute the Kremlin’s claims Which Trump initially received with deep concern.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week Ukraine It launched a wave of drones At Putin’s official residence in the Novgorod region, northwest of the country, which Russian defense systems were able to defeat. Lavrov also criticized Kiev for launching the attack at a time when intense negotiations are underway to end the war.
This claim came just one day after the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky He traveled to Florida for talks with Trump about the still-evolving US administration A 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelensky quickly denied the Kremlin’s allegations.
Trump said that “something happened near” Putin’s residence, but US officials did not find that the Russian president’s residence was a target.
“I don’t think the strike happened,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we can verify.”
Trump spoke of US determination after European officials said the Russian claim was nothing more than an attempt by Moscow to undermine peace efforts.
But Trump, at least initially, appeared to take the Russian allegations seriously. He told reporters last Monday that Putin also raised the matter during a phone call with the Russian leader earlier that day. Trump said he was “very angry” at the accusation.
By Wednesday, Trump appeared to downplay the Russian allegation. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform, raising doubts about the Russian claim. The editorial criticized Putin for choosing “lies, hate and death” in a moment that Trump claimed was “closer than ever” to pushing the two sides to an agreement to end the war.
The US President is struggling to fulfill his pledge To end the war quickly He showed his anger at both Zelensky and Putin as he tried to mediate an end to the conflict that he boasted during his election campaign could be over in one day.
Trump and Zelensky both said last week that they had agreed to this Progress in their conversations At Trump Mar-a-Lago Resort.
But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia’s goals are achieved, including control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial region of Donbass and imposing strict limits on the size of the post-war Ukrainian army and the type of weapons it can possess.
___
Madhani reported from Washington.