ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump on Sunday informed reporters that U.S. officers have decided that Ukraine didn’t goal a residence belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone assault final week, disputing Kremlin claims that Trump had initially greeted with deep concern.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov final week mentioned Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin’s state residence within the northwestern Novgorod area that the Russian protection programs had been capable of defeat. Lavrov additionally criticized Kyiv for launching the assault at a second of intensive negotiations to finish the warfare.
The allegation got here only a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had traveled to Florida for talks with Trump on the U.S. administration’s still-evolving 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelenskyy rapidly denied the Kremlin allegation.
Trump mentioned that “one thing occurred close by” Putin’s residence however that Individuals officers did not discover the Russian president’s residence was focused.
“I don’t consider that strike occurred,” Trump informed reporters as he traveled again to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his house in Florida. “We do not consider that occurred, now that we have been capable of test.”
Trump addressed the U.S. dedication after European officers argued that the Russian declare was nothing greater than an effort by Moscow to undermine the peace effort.
However Trump, no less than initially, had appeared to take the Russian allegations at face worth. He informed reporters final Monday that Putin had additionally raised the matter throughout a cellphone he had with the Russian chief earlier that day. And Trump mentioned he was “very offended” concerning the accusation.
By Wednesday, Trump seemed to be downplaying the Russian declare. He posted a hyperlink to a New York Submit editorial on his social media platform that raised doubt concerning the Russian allegation. The editorial lambasted Putin for selecting “lies, hatred, and dying” at a second that Trump has claimed is “nearer than ever earlier than” to transferring the 2 sides to a deal to finish the warfare.
The U.S. president has struggled to meet a pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has proven irritation with each Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to mediate an finish to a battle he boasted on the marketing campaign path that he might finish in someday.
Each Trump and Zelenskyy mentioned final week they made progress in their talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
However Putin has proven little curiosity in ending the warfare till all of Russia’s aims are met, together with profitable management of all Ukrainian territory in the important thing industrial Donbas area and imposing extreme restrictions on the scale of Ukraine’s post-war army and the kind of weaponry it could actually possess.
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Madhani reported from Washington.
