Putin warns Trump he will respond to the latest attacks in Ukraine

WashingtonDonald Trump has spoken again with Vladimir Putin and claims that the Russian president has warned him that he will have to respond. to the latest attacks in Ukraine"President Putin has stated, quite forcefully, that he will need to respond to the recent airfield attacks," the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. A few minutes later, the Republican deleted the post and then republished it. The content was exactly the same.

Trump did not say whether he tried to dissuade Putin from retaliating against Kiev, highlighting how Moscow has offered to participate in talks with Iran on nuclear weapons. "I have expressed to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and on that, I believe we were in agreement. President Putin has suggested that he will participate in talks with Iran and perhaps could help bring them to a quick conclusion," he wrote.

The apparent confidence he has shown toward Moscow over the negotiations with Tehran contrasts with the criticism he has shown Putin in recent days. At the end of May, Trump claimed that the Russian had "gone completely crazy" after launching some 70 missiles and 300 drones into Ukraine. The president's tone contradicted his tone a few weeks ago, and he sought to feign impartiality in the situation, as if a Russian response to the Ukrainian attacks were now legitimate. "We discussed Ukraine's attack on the targeted Russian aircraft, as well as other attacks on both sides [...] President Putin has stated, quite forcefully, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields," he wrote.

Meanwhile, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said in a press conference that Trump had "reconfirmed again that the Americans had not been briefed in advance" about the latest Ukrainian attacks.

The Republican described the call as "a good conversation, but not one that will lead to immediate peace." The statement confirms the change in tone, or at least the intention to show a certain weariness on Washington's part regarding its role as mediator. Even so, Trump continues to point the finger at Volodymyr Zelensky as the person primarily responsible for the war that began when Russia invaded his country.

Peace talks stalled

Kiev has long accepted the proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, while Moscow continues to refuse. That same Wednesday, hours before the call with Trump, Putin reiterated this in a televised meeting with government officials. The Russian president called the Ukrainian offensive of "terrorist attacks" and said that these actions are intended to break up the talks of peace that currently exists between Kiev and Moscow.

This Tuesday, Ukraine attacked the bridge that connects the Crimean peninsula with the Taman peninsula in Russia, a symbolic point of the Russian occupation. The offensive forced the closure of the Kerch bridge for hours. Two days earlier, Kiev had launched the largest and deepest attack against Russian strategic aviationin a bold covert operation.

This is the fourth time Trump and Putin have called each other since the Republican was inaugurated president in January. In their initial conversations, the US president only managed to reach a minimal agreement to avoid attacks on energy infrastructure, which Moscow quickly broke. However, Trump has not stopped making concessions to Russia and trying to bend Ukraine's will by temporarily suspending military and economic aid.

Lately, after Putin has continued to push back and embarrass the Republican, the White House has begun to show signs of fatigue regarding the mediating role it decided to adopt. This weariness—which continues to focus on Zelensky and not Putin—also coincides with Washington already having managed to sign an agreement with Kiev to exploit the country's natural resources, including key minerals for chip manufacturing and gas.