Trump says Putin will seek revenge for Ukraine drone attack
US President Donald Trump has shared a warning that President Vladimir Putin plans to seek revenge for Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian airbases.
It comes after Trump and Putin spoke by phone for 75 minutes, but appeared to make no advancement towards peace in Ukraine.
Trump said the two discussed the surprise attack on Russia’s bomber planes by drones that Ukraine had smuggled into the country.
“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” said Trump on Truth Social after the phone chat.
He did not refer to any progression towards ending the war or to having pressured Putin about it.
“It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace,” Trump said.
The two leaders also discussed Iran and nuclear weapons.
Putin suggested he would participate in talks aimed at reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, Trump said.
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“I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement,” he said.
Russia said earlier on Wednesday (local time) that military options were “on the table” in its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia, and accused Ukraine’s allies of being involved in them.
UK and US officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend Ukrainian attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers and, separately, bridges that killed seven and injured 115 more.
Donald Trump posted about his chat with Vladimir Putin on Truth Social.
Zelensky seeks truce
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a ceasefire until a meeting can be arranged with Putin.
“My proposal, which I believe our partners can support, is that we agree a ceasefire with the Russians until the leaders meet,” Zelensky told a briefing in Kyiv.
“At this time, people will understand that the nations, Europe, Ukraine and the whole world have a chance to end the war,” he said, adding that monitoring the ceasefire could be discussed at the meeting.
Zelensky said Ukraine would “be grateful” for support for the idea from Trump.
Russia has resisted calls from Ukraine and its allies for a ceasefire, saying that certain conditions must first be met.
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On Wednesday, Putin repeated Russia’s stance that any ceasefire would simply be used by Ukraine to acquire more foreign weapons.
Putin also questioned the point of peace talks after accusing Ukraine of ordering deadly attacks on bridges in Russia that killed seven and injured 115 more.
Putin said the attacks on the bridge in Bryansk and another in Kursk were clearly directed against civilians and that they were evidence that the Ukrainian government “was degenerating into a terrorist organisation, and its sponsors are becoming accomplices of terrorists”.
“The current Kyiv regime does not need peace at all,” Putin said at a televised meeting with senior officials.
“What is there to talk about? How can we negotiate with those who rely on terror?”
Zelensky said President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which hosted peace talks on Monday, had expressed support for a top-level meeting of the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, the US and Turkey.
The June 2 talks in Istanbul made little progress towards ending the three-year-old war in Ukraine, although the sides exchanged proposals as well as a plan for another major swap of prisoners of war.
Zelensky said the POW exchange would begin at the weekend.
“The Russian side has informed us that this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, it can return 500 people,” he said.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has previously said the next exchange would focus on swapping the severely wounded and the young, as well as the bodies of dead soldiers.
Zelensky said Ukraine had received no Russian response to the document it shared ahead of Monday’s meeting in Istanbul. He characterised the Russian proposals as ultimatums.
Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Wednesday he met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington DC during his visit there.
“We discussed the situation at the frontline and the need to strengthen support for Ukraine in the area of air defence,” he wrote on social media.
“We also shared our views on the meeting with the Russians in Istanbul, the further course of negotiations, the upcoming exchange of prisoners, and the importance of returning all hostages and children abducted by Russia.”
