U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him in a phone call on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to Ukraine’s recent drone strikes.
Trump said the two men “discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.”
Putin “did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said in a social media post.
Trump said it “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.”
Moscow said earlier on Wednesday that military options were “on the table” for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them.
Russia also urged the U.S. and Britain to restrain Kyiv after the attacks, which Ukrainian officials have lauded as showing Kyiv can still fight back after more than three years of war.
British and U.S. officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers.
In his social media post, Trump said he and Putin also discussed Iran. Putin suggested he would participate in talks aimed at reaching a new nuclear deal with Tehran, Trump said.
“I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement,” Trump said. He accused Iran of “slowwalking” decisions regarding the talks.
Operation ‘Spiderweb’
Ukraine’s recent drone offensive, dubbed Operation “Spiderweb”, marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict with Russia.
The coordinated assault targeted strategic airbases deep within Russian territory, successfully damaging or destroying multiple long-range bombers, including nuclear-capable aircraft.
These bombers were believed to have been used in previous air raids on Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian defence sources claimed the strikes were designed to disrupt Russia’s aerial capabilities and deter future attacks.
(With inputs from Reuters)
