CNN
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Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Donald Trump in a call Wednesday that he had an obligation to respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attacks, and Trump said he had set up a potential escalation of the conflict to make the US president want the war to end.
This was the second time the mentor had a conversation in a few weeks. Announced a subsequent call in a post about the True Society, Trump did not pressure Russian leaders to agree to a ceasefire or calibrate his retaliation for Ukraine’s bold drone attack on Russian airfields over the weekend.
Instead, Trump admitted that the 75-minute conversation would not immediately end the war in Ukraine.
“We discussed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian docked planes, and we also discussed various other attacks that are happening,” Trump wrote in a post on True Society. “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that immediately led to peace.”
“President Putin had said he had to respond to recent attacks on the airfield,” he continued.
The issue of Trump’s facts provided little evidence of progress in his attempt to end the war. The president last week said he could determine within two weeks whether Putin is serious about negotiating a ceasefire, but he said he had little to say how he would make that assessment. Meanwhile, Trump is under increasing pressure to collect additional sanctions against Russia.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met earlier this week for direct consultations to end the war in Istanbul, but both sides appeared without escalating from their position. Trump has been praised for bringing together both sides for face-to-face discussions.
Neither Trump nor the White House publicly responded to the drone attack over the weekend, saying Ukrainian officials didn’t let them know about the pre-planned attack. Previously, Trump had assaulted with Putin after a Russian air attack on a Ukrainian city.
New footage released on Wednesday shows incredible detail the surgical precession that Ukrainians attacked their targets, damaging and destroying military aircraft Moscow uses to terrorize Ukrainian civilians in their everyday aviation attacks.
The video, released by Ukrainian security agency SBU, shows drones approaching dozens of different types of planes at several airfields as the aircraft burn and explode.
Ukrainian military officials said 41 Russian aircraft, including strategic bombers and surveillance aircraft, were attacked, some were destroyed and other aviations were damaged.
In reading the call on Wednesday, Trump also said he had spoken with Iran and Putin while working to complete a nuclear deal with Tehran.
“We also discussed Iran, and the fact that time is running out of time for Iran’s decisions related to nuclear weapons. He wrote: “I told Putin that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons and I believe we agree on this.”
He said Putin would probably be involved in a debate with Iran.
“President Putin has taken part in discussions with Iran and suggested that it could possibly help us to reach a quick conclusion. My opinion is that Iran is slowing down decisions on this very important issue, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!” Trump wrote.
The Kremlin confirmed the phone, Tas, a Russian state news agency, said Wednesday, citing spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
This story has been updated with additional developments.