What happened
President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a "good" 75-minute phone conversation Wednesday, "but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace." Putin said, "very strongly, that he will have to respond" to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's most prized warplanes deep inside Russia, Trump recounted on social media.
Who said what
Trump's recap of the call did not say "how he reacted to Putin's promise" of retaliation, The Associated Press said, and it "showed none of the frustration" Trump has expressed in recent weeks over Putin's "prolonging of the war." Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not mention Putin's retribution vow in Moscow's readout, but said the leaders discussed the drone strike "at some length." In Russia, CNN said, pro-Kremlin pundits and bloggers are "seething with calls for retribution, even nuclear retaliation."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday night that none of the phone calls with Putin "have brought a reliable peace," and "with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world." The powerful "share responsibility" with Putin if they don't stop him, he wrote on social media, "and if they want to stop him but cannot, then Putin will no longer see them as powerful."
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What next?
U.S. officials assess that Ukraine's explosive drones hit 20 Russian strategic bombers and spy plans and destroyed 10, Reuters said, about "half the number" Zelenskyy claims but still a "highly significant" strike that could "drive Moscow to a far more severe negotiating position in the U.S.-brokered talks."
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