Ukraine war latest: Zelensky denies drone attack on Putin’s residence

US President Donald Trump said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Monday was productive.

“We have several issues that need to be resolved, and hopefully, if we resolve them, you will have peace,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that a bilateral agreement had been reached with Trump on security guarantees in Ukraine. Trump said they were only 95 percent ready, and Zelensky said on Monday he had sought a 50-year security deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday night that Ukraine and Western countries must accept the fact that Russia has the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Lavrov said: “Our principled position remains unchanged. The strategic initiative lies entirely in the hands of the Russian army.”

Trump said he expected European countries, with U.S. support, to “take over much” of Ukraine’s security efforts. However, any such arrangement would be complicated because Russia has said the deployment of any foreign troops in Ukraine is unacceptable.

Zelensky said in a Fox News interview that aired Monday night that Ukraine could not win the war without U.S. support and that he did not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t trust Putin, and he doesn’t want Ukraine to succeed,” Zelensky said.

Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s president said two main issues in the 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved: control of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Russian hands and the fate of the Donbass region.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

Russia has said it will take a tougher approach to ending its war with Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine tried to attack Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region west of Moscow earlier this week with 91 long-range drones, but all of them were destroyed by Russian air defense systems.

No one was injured and no damage was caused, he said in comments reported by Russian media.

“Such reckless actions will not go unanswered,” Lavrov said in a statement, describing the attack as “state terrorism” and adding that Russian armed forces had selected targets for retaliatory attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify Lavrov’s comments. Neither Lavrov nor any other Russian official provided any evidence regarding the alleged attack. It was unclear where Putin was at the time.

Lavrov said the attack occurred during talks on a possible peace deal and said Russia would review its negotiating position but would not withdraw from the talks.

Zelensky denied that Ukraine planned such an attack and accused Russia of preparing for the attack on government buildings in Kiev. “Obviously, we met with Trump yesterday, and it’s clear that for the Russians, if there is no scandal between us and the United States, we are making progress.”

For them, this is a failure because they do not want to end this war,” Zelensky told reporters via WhatsApp.

He added: “I’m sure they’re just preparing for a strike, maybe in the capital, maybe on government buildings.”

Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin’s official residence and vowed retaliation, without providing any evidence for claims that Kyiv said were baseless and aimed at derailing difficult peace talks.

Angry exchanges between the warring neighbors on Monday, including a statement from Russia that it was reviewing its position in talks in response to the attack, dealt a fresh blow to Ukraine’s prospects for peace.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Putin informed him of the attack in a phone call on Monday morning, which angered him.

Still, Trump reiterated his belief that a peace deal may be imminent. “It’s one thing to be offensive,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do it. I learned about it from President Putin today. I’m very angry about it.”

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida on Sunday, with the US president saying they were “getting closer, maybe very close” to a deal to end the war, although “thorny” territorial issues remained.

Putin struck a defiant tone on Monday, telling his troops to press ahead with the campaign to take full control of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye region. The Kremlin has once again demanded that Kyiv withdraw its troops from the last part of the Donbas region they still control in eastern Ukraine.

An aide said Putin told Trump in a phone call on Monday that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was reviewing its position in the wake of the drone strikes. Zelensky dismissed Russia’s accusations as “complete fabrications” and the Kremlin itself refused to take the necessary steps to end the war.

After his call with Putin, Trump told reporters outside his home in Palm Beach, Florida, that he had no further information about the alleged attack.

“I don’t like this, it’s not good,” Trump said. Asked whether U.S. intelligence agencies had evidence of such an attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

president Vladimir Putin Officially promulgated change grant Russia The right to unilaterally disregard foreign and international judgments court in criminal cases.

The controversial decision comes as Ukraine and European countries continue to work together to punish Moscow for its ongoing actions in Ukraine.

donald trump Ukraine peace plan looks fragile on Monday Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Russia’s “lies” about a drone strike on a home of Vladimir Putin, accusing him of trying to undermine diplomatic efforts.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that Ukraine launched 91 long-range drones at the forest resort of Valdai Lake overnight, but all were shot down and no damage was reported.

Zelensky dismissed the claims as “lies” and said they were made to “undermine diplomacy and justify prolonging the war.”

The Independent James C. Reynolds There is such a story:

Russia will respond to Ukraine’s attempted attack on President Vladimir Putin’s official residence, state news agency TASS quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as saying on Tuesday.

“There will be a response to this,” TASS news agency quoted Zakharova as telling Russia’s public broadcaster.

Moscow has provided no evidence to support its assertion that Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s residence, while Kiev dismissed Russia’s claims as baseless and aimed at derailing peace talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview published late Monday that the West must understand that Russia holds the strategic initiative in Ukraine as discussions take place on possible solutions.

Lavrov told RIA Novosti that the West must accept the territorial realities on the ground nearly four years after Moscow invaded Ukraine, calling it a “special military operation.”

He said the United States now supports what is clear to everyone that new elections are needed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term expires.

Lavrov also reiterated that a solution requires ending any idea of ​​a NATO presence in Ukraine and that the country must adopt a neutral, non-aligned status.