Trump rejects Russian claim that Ukraine targeted Putin’s residence in a drone strike

ABOARD Air Force One (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that U.S. officials have determined that Ukraine did not target Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in a drone attack last week, refuting Kremlin claims that Trump initially greeted with deep concern.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin’s official residence in the northwestern Novgorod region, and Russian defense systems were able to defeat them. Lavrov also criticized Kiev for launching the attack at a time when intense negotiations are underway to end the war.

He watches: Trump suggests Russia is blocking the path to peace while the CIA rejects Putin’s drone attack claims

The claim came just one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Florida for talks with Trump about the US administration’s still-under-development 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelensky quickly denied the Kremlin’s allegations.

Trump said that “something happened near” Putin’s residence, but US officials did not find that the Russian president’s residence was a target.

“I don’t think the strike happened,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we can verify.”

Trump spoke of US determination after European officials said the Russian claim was nothing more than an attempt by Moscow to undermine peace efforts.

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But Trump, at least initially, appeared to take the Russian allegations seriously. He told reporters last Monday that Putin also raised the matter during a phone call with the Russian leader earlier that day. Trump said he was “very angry” at the accusation.

By Wednesday, Trump appeared to downplay the Russian allegation. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform, raising doubts about the Russian claim. The editorial criticized Putin for choosing “lies, hate and death” in a moment that Trump claimed was “closer than ever” to pushing the two sides to an agreement to end the war.

He watches: Inside the Ukrainian drone unit responsible for high-profile strikes

The US president is struggling to make good on his pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has shown anger at both Zelensky and Putin as he tries to mediate an end to a conflict that he boasted during his election campaign could be over in a day.

Trump and Zelensky both said last week that they had made progress in their talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia’s goals are achieved, including control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial region of Donbass and imposing strict limits on the size of the post-war Ukrainian army and the type of weapons it can possess.

Madhani reported from Washington.