U.S. Finds Ukraine Didn’t Target Putin in Drone Strike: Disclosure of the findings come as Trump appeared to play down the Russian claim of an attempted drone attack

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-finds-ukraine-didnt-target-putin-in-drone-strike-615ce4be?st=jraRbi

by rulepanic

16 comments

  1. I don’t get what all the hoo-ha is about this, like how many times has Putin tried to kill Zelensky now, like dozens…both teams shouldn’t be allowed to play to different rules and standards.

  2. Russia I think sometimes can’t believe it’s luck that someone like trump ended up in the white house….twice! While they wanted him in his second term during the initial invasion (no consequences for republicans for selling out ukraine politically, no western support to save ukraine), they seem to have been caught off guard by the biden presidency and it was too late to change their timeline.

    However, they also realize that Trump, as well as being very corrupt… is also quite simple and stupid. Russia needs an excuse to not accept the trump branded peace plan while not making trump feel like it’s russias fault he’s not getting his nobel for ending the war.

    It’s insane; but really is that simple

  3. Wait… Putin lied to Trump and he bought it hook line and sinker. Say it isn’t so.

  4. This means that Trump will send the Tomahawk cruise missiles now. Right? /s 😒🤔

    The lie served its purpose, and Trump’s goldfish memory already forgot about sending cruise missiles.

  7. Cankles was very worried that his hero wasn’t in danger.

  8. By Lara Seligman, Michael R. Gordon and Dustin Volz
    Updated Dec. 31, 2025 6:07 pm ETWASHINGTON—

    U.S. national-security officials said Wednesday that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in an alleged drone operation, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader.

    That conclusion is supported by a Central Intelligence Agency assessment that found no attempted attack against Putin had occurred, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence. The CIA declined to comment.

    The U.S. found that Ukraine had been seeking to strike a military target located in the same region as Putin’s country residence but that wasn’t close by, the U.S. official said.

    President Trump on Wednesday appeared to play down the Russian claim of an attempted drone attack, posting a link to a New York Post editorial that asserted that the Ukraine strike likely didn’t occur and sharing the headline: “Putin ‘attack’ bluster shows Russia is the one standing in the way of peace.”

    Trump’s post came after CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed the president on the issue, according to a person familiar with the exchange. U.S. intelligence has a number of ways to monitor Russia’s airspace, military activities and attacks on its territory, including with satellites, radar, and communication intercepts.

    Trump told reporters on Monday that he was “very angry” after Putin told him in a phone conversation that Ukrainian drones had targeted his residence, known as Dolgiye Borody, or Long Beards, along a lake shore in the country’s northwest.

    Asked if the U.S. had evidence that such an attack had taken place, Trump replied: “You are saying, maybe the attack didn’t take place—that is possible too, I guess, but President Putin told me this morning it did.”Ukraine has acknowledged its role in some assassinations and sabotage attacks deep inside Russian territory but has been adamant that it wasn’t behind any attack on Putin’s residence. Ukrainian officials say Putin is seeking a pretext to sour relations between Washington and Kyiv and to weaken its adversary’s negotiating hand in U.S.-brokered talks on ending the war.

    Trying to buttress the Kremlin’s allegations, Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday that it had intercepted 91 Ukrainian drones that had been aimed at Putin’s Novgorod residence. A video released by Russian Defense officials showed what they said was a downed Ukrainian drone that was equipped with explosives lying in the snow.

    The Russian allegation came after Trump’s nearly three-hour meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, a discussion the U.S. president praised as “excellent” and even raised the prospect that he might travel to Kyiv to press his case for peace.Citing the alleged attack, Moscow has threatened to recalibrate its already hardline negotiating position in the peace talks and has launched drone attacks in the port region of Odessa.

    Trump’s Truth Social post Wednesday sharing a media report that called Russia an obstacle to peace was one of his most pointed recent criticisms of the Kremlin, which he has previously said is eager to halt the war with [Ukraine.Moscow](http://Ukraine.Moscow) appeared to be making inroads in Asia and the Middle East with its allegation that Ukraine had sought to target Putin. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that he was “deeply concerned” about the alleged operation, while Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it “a heinous act.” The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry also expressed concern about the allegation.

    Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said in a social-media post that he had spoken with the British, French and German national security advisers on Wednesday to discuss the next steps in trying to secure peace. Rustem Umerov, a top Ukrainian national security official and negotiator, participated in the call.

    Witkoff wrote that the discussions had focused on possible security guarantees and “deconfliction mechanisms” to “help end the war and ensure it does not restart.”

  9. There is a difference between playing this down and listening and believing everything Putin says ….. Trump you are a complete idiot

  10. Trump seems like the type of person who would go mental if he was lied to and embarrassed publicly by someone. Yet Putin does it again and again and he does absolutely nothing about it.

  12. Fucking bullshit, Ukraine has every right to kill Putin. It’s self defense. If you choose to kill, then you are at risk of being killed. Why is he immune somehow if he’s putting everyone else in harms way??? WTF is this. Has nothing to do with a peace deal. Fuck this absurd world.

  13. It shows just how daft Putin believes Trump is. Cross my heart & hope to die Donald, they bombed my house 🤣🤣

    The entire world knew it straight away ffs, & Trump & Co tried deflecting for Adolf Putin before realising it was unsellable.

    The Allied World should be stating that Putin is, & will forever be, a War Criminal, & nothing, especially false flag operations, will ever change that

    Glory To Ukraine 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇧

  14. Putin is a pathological liar. Why Trump even talks to the fool is beyond me. It is always about money to Trump. But don’t you need a modicum of trust in someone to fleece them?

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