Putin tells Trump ‘very strongly’ Moscow will respond to Ukraine drone attacks

Washington — Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump in a phone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to the recent Ukrainian drone attacks, the US president said.

Trump said the two men “discussed the attack on Russia’s docked aircraft, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.”

Putin “did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said in a social media post.

Trump said it “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.”

Moscow said earlier on Wednesday that military options were “on the table” for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them.

Russia also urged the US and Britain to restrain Kyiv after the attacks, which Ukrainian officials have lauded as showing Kyiv can still fight back after more than three years of war.

British and US officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers.

In his social media post, Trump said he and Putin also discussed Iran. Putin suggested he would participate in talks aimed at reaching a new nuclear deal with Tehran, Trump said.

“I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement,” Trump said. He accused Iran of “slow-walking” decisions regarding the talks.

Meanwhile, Russian military analysts are hunting for scapegoats after Ukraine’s weekend drone attack destroyed a number of strategic bombers, weakening a key component of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Aerospace forces commander-in-chief Viktor Afzalov and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu — now secretary of Russia’s security council — are among those being publicly singled out for blame.

The drone strikes have prompted accusations of negligence, complacency and corruption. How was it possible, commentators are asking, for nuclear-capable aircraft to be left exposed, unprotected by hangars, and for Ukrainian intelligence to smuggle the drones within close reach of airbases and unleash them with devastating effect?

Two influential military blogs, Voyenkor Kotenok and Two Majors, said Shoigu had promised as far back as April 2021 to build more than 300 reinforced concrete shelters for aircraft, but this had not happened.

Military analyst Vladislav Shurygin condemned the “blatant irresponsibility and negligence” of the aerospace command headed by Afzalov, accusing the top brass of failing to anticipate threats and learn from past mistakes.

The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another blogger, Roman Alekhin, said the attacks had demonstrated Ukraine’s ability to penetrate deep inside Russia with saboteurs.

Moscow had underestimated its enemy, he said, comparing the blow to Japan’s 1941 attack on the US navy at Pearl Harbor.

Reuters