Russia on Monday accused Ukraine of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia, which President Trump said he was “very angry” about, even as Kyiv has denied it happened.
The Kremlin’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s negotiating position to end its war in Ukraine was under review after it claimed Kyiv tried to attack the presidential residence in the Novgorod region overnight with 91 long-range drones. Lavrov said all drones were destroyed by Russian air defenses, with no injuries or damage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said Russia’s claims were “a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine” and undermine peace talks, according to a post to the social platform X.
But Trump later on Monday appeared to take Russia’s side.
“I don’t like it, it’s not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it. Early in the morning he said he was attacked. That’s no good, it’s no good,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., of the claimed strike.
“It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time,” Trump added, likely referring to ongoing peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. “It’s one thing to be offensive, because [Russia is] offensive, it’s another thing to attack [Putin’s] house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. … I was very angry about it.”
Asked if there’s evidence of the attack, Trump replied: “Well, we’ll find out. You’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place? That’s possible, I guess, but President Putin told me this morning.”
Asked if there’s evidence of the attack, Trump replied: “Well, we’ll find out. You’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place? That’s possible, I guess, but President Putin told me this morning.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump’s call with Putin, saying in a post on X that the president had “concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) later criticized Trump for appearing to side with Russia, accusing Putin of frequently lying.
“President Trump and his team should get the facts first before assuming blame. Putin is a well known boldface liar,” Bacon wrote on X.
Russia has already promised to retaliate against Ukraine and said targets had already been selected for such strikes.
“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered. The targets for retaliatory strikes and the timing of their implementation by the Russian armed forces have been determined,” Lavrov said.
Zelensky in his post warned that Russia would use the alleged attack to justify strikes against Ukraine, including government buildings in Kyiv.
“Russia is at it again, using dangerous statements to undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team. We keep working together to bring peace closer,” he wrote.
Russia was a brutal state long before the state took control of all the media. Putin was democratically elected again and again and people loved their strong leader. They still do. The media just lets them pretend they are not as barbaric as they really are.
Of course, since the best opposing candidates went to prison. Can’t elect a guy who’s not running. Navalny was a very popular candidate and people would have voted for him, if they had the chance. But we won’t know that because Putin killed him
Putin is in power since 2000. Navalny funded his organization in 2011. He was still at a university when Putin took over. People voted Putin for president twice and then they voted for his puppet Medvedev in 2008. Yes, after decades in power he imprisoned or assassinated his opponents and obviously the elections are just for show now but you’re ignoring the first decade when he didn’t have a total grip on power and Russians still happily voted for him. It’s not because they didn’t know what he represents but because they liked it.
The first time he got elected he already started to shut down the free press. He shut down Kukly in 2002
Yeah, and people still voted for him in 2004. He didn’t shut down everything and kill all his opponents in his first term. From wikipedia about 2004 elections:
“the elections were generally well administrated and reflected the consistently high public approval rating of the incumbent president but lacked elements of a genuine democratic contest.”
Russia was never a healthy democracy but at the beginning people voted for Putin because they liked him. He managed to get absolute power because most people approved of his actions for two decades.
Because Russians loved him for the Chechen war. He got a similar boost in popularity after annexation of Crimea in 2014
Yes, that’s exactly my point.