From the Telegraph / Yahoo!News:
"Trump criticises Ukraine for ‘attacking Putin’s house’
Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine for allegedly attacking Vladimir Putin’s official residence in an overnight drone strike.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on Monday that Moscow had downed 91 long-range drones over Putin’s Valdai residence in Novgorod, without providing any evidence, and said Russia’s position in peace talks would “be revised” as a result.
Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the claims as “another round of lies” intended to derail negotiations, but the US president sided with Russia and said the alleged attack left him “very angry”.
After a phone call with Putin, Mr Trump told reporters outside Mar-a-Lago: “You know who told me about it? President Putin, early in the morning, he said he was attacked. It’s no good. “It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. 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.”
Alexander Grushko, Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, also claimed there was a “British influence” discernible in the attack. “The Russian Federation will respond accordingly to this provocation,” he said of the drone strike.
But Mr Zelensky said in a statement on X: “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.”
The claims by Mr Lavrov, who does not typically announce drone strikes, came hours after Mr Trump met Mr Zelensky in Mar-a-Lago for peace talks where he said US security guarantees were “95 per cent” decided.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier on Monday claimed that it had only downed 89 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, with just 18 over the Novgorod region, appearing to contradict Mr Lavrov’s claims.
Mr Lavrov said the Kremlin’s position in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would “be revised” as a result of what he called a “terrorist attack”, but claimed that Moscow has no intention of withdrawing from talks. He told Russian state media: “Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” adding that Moscow had already identified targets for a retaliatory strike on Ukraine.
The statement by the foreign minister was unusual because drone strikes by Ukraine are usually announced by Russia’s regional authorities and defence ministry.
Senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Mr Trump was “shocked” when he was told about the alleged attack on the phone call with Putin. Mr Ushakov also claimed that Mr Trump had said “thank God” he did not supply Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, adding that it would “undoubtedly” affect America’s approach to negotiations.
Meanwhile, Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, accused Moscow of looking for “false justification” for further strikes, after Russia launched a huge assault on Kyiv early on Saturday.
It was not clear whether Putin was at the residence at the time of the alleged strike. Reports have stated that the Russian president has increasingly favoured Valdai since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The countryside property is located on a peninsula between two lakes, making it difficult to target with drones and missiles, and is thought to be heavily guarded. Satellite imagery from 2024 showed 12 heavy-duty Pantsir-S1 air defence systems installed around Lake Valdai as Kyiv stepped up its attacks on Russian soil...
Mr Zelensky revealed that he asked Mr Trump to provide Ukraine with security guarantees lasting half a century. He said to journalists after his meeting with Mr Trump in Florida: “I told [Mr Trump] that the war is still going on, and it has been going on for almost 15 years ... I told him that we would very much like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years.” He added that Mr Trump had replied that he would think about the request...
Mr Trump said on Sunday that US security guarantees were “95 per cent” decided, but added that European countries would “take over a big part” of the effort to ensure Ukraine’s security in the event of a peace deal."
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Who in his right mind, however, would trust Trump's security guarantees? Not that Trump's predecessors were much better - they reneged their obligations by the Budapest Memorandum.
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