President Donald Trump expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s residence, despite acknowledging it’s “possible” the bombing did not actually happen.
Trump condemned the Ukrainian military’s alleged attack on Putin’s home in northwestern Russia while speaking to reporters outside Mar-a-Lago on Monday, telling them that he heard news of the situation from the Russian president.
“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. It’s no good. It’s no good,” Trump said while standing beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the president’s Florida estate for bilateral talks.
Trump appeared to affirm the Kremlin’s telling of events, including his pride in having withheld Tomahawk missiles from Ukraine.
Russian sources earlier in the day said Trump responded to the Russians’ report by saying, “Thank god we didn’t give them Tomahawks.”
“Don’t forget, the Tomahawks — I stopped the Tomahawks. I didn’t want that. It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time,” Trump said outside Mar-a-Lago. “It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin, I was very angry about it.”
When asked by one journalist if U.S. intelligence independently confirmed the attack on Putin’s residence, Trump balked.
“Well, we’ll find out. I mean, you’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place, that’s possible — I guess. But President Putin told me this morning it did,” he responded.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized the alleged attack as a large-scale drone operation utilizing approximately 91 unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said. “Targets for retaliatory strikes and the timing of their execution by the Russian Armed Forces have been determined.”
The foreign minister also used the situation to justify the latest in a long series of pivots away from peace, saying Russia will now need to “revise” its negotiations. However, he affirmed Russia does “not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process with the United States.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky roundly dismissed allegations of attacking Putin’s home, calling the Russian reports an attempt to “undermine all achievements of our shared diplomatic efforts with President Trump’s team.”
“This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war. Typical Russian lies,” Zelensky said in a Monday post on social media. “Furthermore, the Russians have already targeted Kyiv in the past, including the Cabinet of Ministers building.”
He continued, “Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy. To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us. It is critical that the world doesn’t stay silent now. We cannot allow Russia to undermine the work on achieving a lasting peace.”
Trump’s phone call with Putin followed an in-person meeting with Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, after which Trump said, “We have the makings of a deal.”
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The week leading up to the Zelensky meeting was marred by aerial assaults on Ukraine.
Zelensky said an estimated 2,100 drones, 800 bombs, and 100 missiles pounded the country.