Drone attacks in Ukraine and Russia after Trump-Putin conversation

Drone attacks in Ukraine and Russia after Trump-Putin conversation

Ukraine and Russia accused each other of having started attack drones overnight. These incidents occurred only a few hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken to his US colleague Donald Trump by phone, and again rejected an immediate ceasefire.

Current developments in the conflict

The Ukrainian Air Force announced on its Telegram channel that Russia started 108 Shahed drones and "Different types of distraction drones". 93 of these drones in the eastern, central and northern regions of the country were destroyed by air defense systems.

conversations between Trump and Putin

The targeted attacks took place after an almost two -hour conversation between Trump and Putin on Monday. Trump spoke from the Oval Office, while Putin called from a visit to a music school in Sochi.

After the phone call, Trump explained that Kiev and Moscow would “immediately” begin negotiations on an armistice. Putin, on the other hand, expressed that the Kremlin was ready to negotiate with Ukraine about a "possible ceasefire for a certain period of time", provided that the corresponding agreements would be made.

uncertainty about negotiations

According to Yury Ushakov, the advisor of the Russian President, neither Putin nor Trump discussed time frames for a possible ceasefire. Putin had previously ignored a proposal from Washington and Kiev for a 30-day ceasefire and finally rejected the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj when he asked to meet in Istanbul.

reactions to the conversations

When the talks in Turkey stalled, Trump said that he would not believe in a significant breakthrough in the peace negotiations before he hadn't spoken directly to Putin. Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to President Selenskyj, said: "Unfortunately, the status quo did not change after the phone call between Trump and Putin."

European reactions and sanctions

After the briefing of Trump on the conversation with Putin, European leaders decided to increase the pressure on Russia through sanctions, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a contribution to X in late Monday. Trump said that he would not support new sanctions against Russia "because there are opportunities for progress."

Future of Peace Talks

Selenskyj announced that talks about the future location of a further round of negotiations would take place that initially aimed to achieve an armistice. The Russian news agency TASS quoted the Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow, who said that "so far no concrete decisions about the location for the continuation of possible future contacts" had been made with Ukrainian officials.

Putin's goal in conflict

Peskow emphasized: "We are primarily interested in a quick settlement that eliminates the causes of this conflict." William Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine and Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, told CNN that Putin "wants the Ukraine to surrender". He wanted Ukraine to disarm itself and in a position in which the Ukrainians cannot defend themselves.

"Putin says that when he speaks of 'the causes'," added Taylor.