Ukrainian drones penetrated deep into Russia last weekend, causing a humiliating blow to Moscow. Kiev's defender will attack to celebrate the victory of modern warfare and warns Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the extraordinary action received a different reaction in the White House: anger.
Donald Trump has publicly vented news about Putin's reluctance to end the war in recent weeks. But the president has expressed private frustration since Sunday's series of Russian military airport attacks, believing that the strike could escalate the conflict. (They discussed the internal review on anonymity.)
The sources told me that the drone strike has rekindled the president's long-term dissatisfaction with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and published a new debate at the White House on whether the United States should abandon Ukraine. External advisers said that throughout the war, Trump considered Zelensky a "bad guy" and a "hothead", and external advisers said someone might push the planet into World War III. Trump responded privately this week to a right-wing conversation point criticizing Zelensky for allegedly showing off after the drone attack. According to advisers, Trump was impressed by the courage to strike, but believed that Zelensky's focus should be on Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Istanbul.
Trump spoke with Putin yesterday and while reading The Call of Truth Society, the U.S. President shifted the Kremlin's plan against Ukraine. "We discussed Ukraine's attack on Russian docked aircraft and various other attacks on both sides," Trump wrote. "It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that would lead to peace. President Putin did say, and it was very strong, that he would have to respond to the recent attack on the airport."
Trump did not say whether he warned Putin not to retaliate, and two government officials told me that he had not decided on the next step. Officials offered him options, including ratifying Russia and reducing aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump told aides this week that he did not believe in a summit with him, Zelensky and Putin (who once hoped it was a way to end the war) and that would happen soon, one of the administration officials told me.
Last year during the campaign, Trump vowed to end the war within the first 24 hours of his tenure, and he made a re-push of the peace deal last month. Although Zelensky agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Putin rejected the offer and bombed his bombing of Ukrainian cities. This led to Trump's threats to get rid of peace talks and flashes some rare anger in Putin. The president had hoped to make some progress in his talks in Turkey this week, but the meeting was covered up by a drone strike and had nowhere to go. The White House has said that, based on preliminary estimates, the White House did not inform the accidental attack in advance, which was carried out by drones hidden in five Russian time zones in Russia that hit nuclear-capable bombers and caused billions of dollars in losses.
Steve Bannon and other influential magazine voices condemned the Ukrainian attacks and tried to push Washington toward Kiev. Bannon blamed Ukraine on this week's podcast for undermining peace talks, and at the same time, it could have caused a huge reaction from Russia. "Zelensky did not ask the US president to say he would strike deeper on Russia's strategic power, which is escalating the ladder as soon as possible, and this will rise as soon as possible the day before you meet in Turkey," Bannon said. "He took on a Japanese role at Pearl Harbor on the eve of a peace talk or a ceasefire negotiation - a sneak attack." A fourth administration official told me that Bannon had sent a similar message to senior West Wing advisers.
Trump's Ukrainian envoy Keith Kellogg warned that Fox News "risk levels are rising" as drones attacked part of Russia's "national survival system" (its nuclear program), which could prompt Moscow to retaliate in a major way.
Trump has not increased aid to Ukraine since taking office again in January, and he has not yet recognized the push for the bipartisan Senate led by his ally Senator Lindsey Graham to impose severe economic fines on Russia and the countries that do business.
There are other recent signs that the White House is also far away from Ukraine. Yesterday, Defense Minister Pete Hegseth did not attend the 50 meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. In the past, meetings have been an important place to coordinate Ukrainian military aid. Hegseth is the first U.S. Secretary of Defense to skip the event in three years. The Pentagon listed the arrangement issues because he was absent.
When I asked a White House spokesman for comments about the drone strike, she pointed out that I was speaking in the briefing room of Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, when Leavitt said Trump “hopefully the war ended at the negotiating table and he has announced the issue, publicly and privately, to both leaders.”
Putin downplayed the opportunity for a ceasefire in his public remarks and asked, "Who negotiates with terrorists?" But Zelensky told reporters that if Putin agrees to a U.S. propaganda truce, the weekend action, a network with the code Spider, would not be carried out. "If there is a ceasefire, will the action happen?" Zelensky asked. "No."
Trump is angry at the conflict and continues to want to get rid of any diplomatic solution. In his Truth-Social Posts with Putin’s Call, the President seems eager to change the subject, focusing on ending different international crises. "We also talk about Iran," Trump wrote. "President Putin suggested that he would have a discussion with Iran, and maybe he might help derive that."