A satellite image of destroyed Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on the Olenya Airbase in Russia's Arctic Murmansk region, 4 June 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/ Maxar Technologies

Following a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump warned that the Russian leader intends to seek revenge for the coordinated Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian airfields on Sunday that damaged 40 Russian aircraft and destroyed 13 outright.

Calling the 75-minute call a “good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace”, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the pair discussed “the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides”.

According to Trump, Putin warned “very strongly” that he would “have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields”.

The two also discussed Iran, Trump said, adding that the two agreed that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” and that Putin had offered to participate in US talks on a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Speaking to reporters after the call, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that the topic of Ukraine’s airfields strike had been “touched upon” by the leaders, with Trump telling Putin that the US had not been informed of Kyiv’s plan to attack Russian military aircraft in advance.

Ushakov also said Putin had told Trump that Ukraine had attempted to undermine the latest round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv on Monday by “carrying out targeted attacks on purely civilian targets and [Russia’s] civilian population”, referring to suspected Ukrainian acts of sabotage on railway bridges in western Russia on Sunday that killed seven people and injured dozens more.

“Under international law, this unequivocally qualifies as terrorism, and in our opinion, the Kiev regime has essentially degenerated into a terrorist organisation”, Ushakov said, though he stressed that Putin had nevertheless found Monday’s talks with Ukraine “useful”.

Ushakov’s comments echo language used by Putin himself during a video call with top Kremlin officials on Wednesday, when the Russian leader wondered how Moscow could continue to negotiate with Kyiv following Sunday’s attacks, which he said showed the Ukrainian government was “gradually turning into a terrorist organisation”.

“How can [negotiations] be held under these conditions? What is there to talk about? Who negotiates with those who rely on terror, with terrorists?”, Putin asked.