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US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him a swarm of Ukrainian drones had allegedly targeted one of his residences, a claim that Kyiv has denied.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said Putin raised the issue during a phone call earlier in the day.
“You know who told me about it? President Putin, early in the morning, he said he was attacked. It’s no good. I’m very angry,” Trump said, referring to the alleged drone strike. He, however, acknowledged that the claim could turn out to be untrue, saying it was “possible” the attack had not happened.
“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,” he added.
Trump’s remarks came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of attempting to attack Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region, west of Moscow, using a swarm of long-range drones late on December 28 and 29. Lavrov claimed that 91 drones were launched but were intercepted by Russian air defences.
Ukraine quickly rejected the allegation. “Another round of lies from the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters.
Trump also confirmed that he had spoken to Putin for the second time in 24 hours, a day after holding talks with Zelenskyy. Despite the controversy, he described his conversation with the Russian leader as constructive.
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View All“It was a very productive talk,” Trump said. “We have a few very thorny issues, as you can imagine.”
He added that progress was possible if those challenges were resolved. “We have a couple of issues that we’re going to get resolved, hopefully, and if we get them resolved, you can have peace,” he said.
If confirmed, the alleged drone incident would mark another escalation in tensions between Moscow and Kyiv at a time when diplomatic efforts to end the conflict remain fragile.
On Sunday, Trump met Zelenskyy in Florida and said the two sides were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained.
Meanwhile, Putin struck a defiant note on Monday, urging his military to press ahead with efforts to take full control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. The Kremlin also reiterated demands for Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the remaining parts of the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control in eastern Ukraine.