Putin, Trump hold phone talks; Moscow vows to respond to Spider's Web attack
Global Times
By Xu Keyue Published: Jun 05, 2025 10:53 PM
A nighttime Russian drone strike on Thursday hit the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, and six drones hit a residential area in the city at 5:30 am local time, according to Ukrainian authorities, per a report of AP. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly vowed to hit back against recent Ukraine's Operation "Spider's Web" drone attack in a call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
President Trump disclosed Wednesday that Putin told him that Moscow would "have to respond" to the massive Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's strategic air bases days ago, according to the Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.
Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account that he finished a phone call with Putin and discussed the attacks on June 1. It was the first time the US president publicly talked about the operation that Zelensky touted being directed by himself, Xinhua reported.
Ukraine on Sunday launched a drone attack deep into Russian territory that security officials said destroyed about 40 military bombers, multiple media outlets reported.
CNN reported on Wednesday that the leaders' conversation was their second time speaking in a matter of weeks. In the post in his Truth Social, US President acknowledged the 75-minute conversation would not yield an immediate end to the war in Ukraine. "It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace," the post read.
TASS also briefed the phone call on Wednesday but noted the conversation lasted 70 minutes - shorter than Trump claimed.
Russian and Ukrainian delegates met in Istanbul on Monday for their second set of direct peace talks. The talks began late and lasted barely over an hour.
Although both sides agreed to work on a new prisoner exchange, statements from the two sets of delegations suggested that little had been achieved to bridge the gulf between their positions, particularly on the matter of a ceasefire, according to CNN.
Ukraine's Security Service announced on Tuesday local time that it had carried out a special operation involving an underwater attack on the Crimean Bridge - the third such strike on the structure since the conflict began. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces did attack the Crimean Bridge, but it was not damaged. In response to the threat of further attacks, the bridge was temporarily closed twice for brief periods. However, these closures did not lead to significant disruptions, and the bridge is now fully open for normal traffic, TASS reported.
The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine issued a statement on Thursday via its official WeChat account, warning that the entire territory of Ukraine remains in a state of war and the security situation is still severe, and advising Chinese citizens to refrain from traveling to Ukraine for the time being.
Cui Hongjian, professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, pointed out a continuation of the "fighting while talking" dynamic, with negotiations confined to purely transactional matters - such as prisoner swaps or the exchange of remains - while making no substantive progress toward meaningful conflict resolution.
Cui told the Global Times on Thursday that the US is attempting to strike a delicate balance in its approach to the Ukraine crisis. On one hand, it seeks to reduce its direct involvement in the conflict to avoid undermining its broader goal of improving relations with Russia. On the other hand, it does not want Ukraine-Russia negotiations to proceed entirely outside its influence.
This phone call where the two leaders talked for more than one hour and Trump emphasized his ignorance of the weekend attack from Ukraine in advance once again indicated that Washington tries to distance itself from Kiev, Cui said.
"This reflects Washington's broader recalibration—prioritizing strategic restraint to preserve trust with Russia while shifting more responsibility to European allies," Cui told the Global Times on Thursday.
US president also said in a post on his Truth Social account the two leaders "discussed Iran, and the fact that time is running out on Iran's decision pertaining to nuclear weapons, which must be made quickly!" according to Xinhua.
TASS reported that Trump told Putin that the talks could benefit from Russia's help and said he would appreciate it if Russia could work with Iran on the issue.
The US is pursuing selective cooperation with Russia to reduce its own geopolitical burdens—particularly in the Middle East, Cui said.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
