Trump warns Putin of possible 'surprise' response
President of United States Donald Trump (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump once again expressed dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin, making the statement during a Cabinet meeting.
"I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now, because he's killing a lot of people, and a lot of them are his soldiers, his soldiers and their soldiers mostly. And it's now up to 7,000 a week," Trump said.
Reporters then asked the US president whether he planned to take any action in response to this dissatisfaction with Putin.
"I wouldn't be telling you, we want to have a little surprise," Trump replied.
Trump–Putin conversation
On July 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a planned conversation with US President Donald Trump. Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Putin and Trump are "completely different people," suggesting they have little common ground for dialogue.
Their previous call took place on June 4. During that exchange, Putin expressed dissatisfaction with Ukraine's Spiderweb operation conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which resulted in the destruction of several Russian strategic aircraft.
Trump, for his part, said Putin responded with threats of retaliation. However, it remains unclear whether Trump tried to deescalate the situation.
Russian officials later described the call as "frank and constructive." Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said both leaders were "on the same wavelength." According to Ushakov, Putin made it clear that Russia would not abandon its objectives in Ukraine and would continue pursuing them.
More details on the Trump-Putin conversation can be found in the RBC-Ukraine report.
