The fog of war is thick in Eastern Europe, where Russia has accused Ukraine of sending a swarm of kamikaze drones to strike one of President Vladimir Putin’s houses. The Russians say they thwarted the attack.
So far, it’s been difficult to verify whether the Russians are telling the truth. But whatever it is, any slight chance there may have been at a peace agreement seems to have further diminished.
The “Attack”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov decried the alleged attack. On Monday, he said, “The Kiev regime has fully switched to state terrorism policies, and Moscow will review its negotiating position accordingly.” He emphasized that although the Kremlin won’t completely abandon negotiations, “Russia’s negotiating position will be revised.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the attack never happened. He says Russia is making it up to serve as an excuse for torpedoing the working peace negotiations and to keep charging ahead into Ukraine. “Russia must stop inventing ways to wage war and start thinking about how to restore security,” he said in a social media post.
President Donald Trump answered questions on Monday about the supposed attack. “I don’t like it. It’s not good,” he said, adding that he heard about it from Putin himself and conceding that it might not be true. He then said that he made the right decision in refusing to give the Ukrainians long-range Tomahawk missiles. “It’s a delicate period of time,” he noted, adding:
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. … I was very angry about it.
Hellbound and Down 