After two days of deafening silence from the White House on Ukraine's Sunday massive drone assault, dubbed 'Operation Spider's Web' - which took out many key Russian aircraft, including long-range strategic bombers and likely even Russia's extremely rare A-50 Radar Plane - President Trump has finally reacted publicly.
The president revealed he has held a phone call with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, which significantly lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. Trump warned that peace is not very close on the horizon and that the two leaders covered several pressing issues in their conversation.
"We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides." Trump went on to call it a good conversation, however "not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace."
That's when Trump clarified that "President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields."
The Russian leader's words are consistent with Dmitry Medvedev's ominous words issued the day prior, wherein the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said "retribution is inevitable". Medvedev had warned of what's coming:
"Our Army is pushing forward and will continue to advance. Everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be."
Below: Ukraine on Wednesday released additional footage of strikes on four Russian air fields, including what could be two A-50 aircraft in Ivanovo...
Trump didn't reveal much further in the way of details, after the White House in a Tuesday briefing again affirmed that President Trump did not have foreknowledge of the Ukrainian cross-border operation. (But did US intelligence? very likely so.)
The fresh Truth Social statement was further taken up with Iran. "I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement. President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion," he wrote.
The US President concluded, "It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!"
The full statement:
This comes after the Ayatollah dismissed the latest US proposal which was submitted over the weekend. The central issue is the US demand that uranium enrichment be taken down to zero.
Whether Iran, Ukraine-Russia, or Gaza - conservative voices have been urging Trump to stand by his campaign promises to end conflicts in hotspots around the world. But the fact remains that the US is still funding and weaponizing one side of these various wars, especially in the case of Ukraine.
Of note in Trump's phone call with Putin is that nothing was stated from Trump in the way of a US demand that Putin not retaliate against Ukraine (or at least which was not disclosed in his Truth Social post).
The absence of a preemptive condemnation for any major retaliation is interesting also combined with the White House Press Secretary saying yesterday to reporters that the war is very far away, which suggests it's no longer a top administration priority.