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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin intends to retaliate “very strongly” against Ukraine for a surprise drone strike on Russian airfields over the weekend, a declaration that provoked alarm in Washington and abroad even as Trump touted his efforts to bring peace to the region.
The revelation came in a social media post shortly after Trump spoke with the Russian President for more than an hour by phone—a call he described as “a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.” In his statement, Trump appeared to accept Putin’s warning at face value and offered no indication that he had urged restraint.
“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Ukraine’s surprise drone strike that targeted five Russian airbases and damaged or destroyed at least 41 military aircraft, including strategic bombers. The Ukrainian operation, which spanned five time zones and caused an estimated $7 billion in damage, marked one of Kyiv’s boldest assaults deep inside Russian territory since the war began more than three years ago.