Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump in a telephone 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 airplanes, 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.
“It is my opinion that Iran has been slow walking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!”
The Republican has repeatedly alarmed Kyiv and Western allies by appearing to side with Putin over the war, and had a blazing Oval Office row with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Trump has also showed growing frustration with Putin as Russia has so far derailed the US president’s efforts to honor a campaign pledge to end the war within 24 hours — even if he never explained how this could be achieved.
The call between Trump and Putin did however show that Washington and Moscow may be eying cooperation on another key global issue — Iran.
Trump said he believed they were both “in agreement” that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and that time was running out for Tehran to respond to US offers of a deal.
“President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,” Trump said.
Putin told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow was ready to help advance talks on a nuclear deal, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
But Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier Wednesday that Washington’s proposal was against Tehran’s national interest, amid sharp differences over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium.
