Ukraine: Trump says Putin vows 'response' to airfield attack

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters on Wednesday that he has doubts over whether Russia is sincere in wanting to end its war in Ukraine, following inconclusive talks in Turkey last week. 

"What we experienced at the recent talks in Istanbul is sobering," he told a press conference alongside his Polish counterpart.

"The Russian side presented nothing more than familiar maximum demands. A willingness to engage in dialogue looks different," he said. 

Wadephul added that Germany would continue to push for new sanctions against the Kremlin. 

"We are pushing for an 18th package of sanctions as quickly as possible."

The German foreign minister added that no chance for peace must be passed up.

"Europe expects us, the United States and Europe, to bring Russia to the negotiating table."

This opportunity for peace must not be missed and this war must finally be brought to a just end."

US President Donald Trump says he has spoken again with Vladimir Putin, and warned that a Ukraine ceasefire remains distant.

He added that the Russian leader had vowed to retaliate after Kyiv attacked Russian bomber airfields.

"It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace," said Trump.

He said the call, which lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, dealt with "the attack on Russia's docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides."

"President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields," the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The call came three days after Ukraine carried out a major drone assault on Russian military airbases, saying it had destroyed several nuclear-capable bombers valued in the billions of dollars.

The Kremlin described the call as "productive." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia gave Ukraine an ultimatum during the latest round of talks in Istanbul, but he said that he is ready to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump "any day."

Zelenskyy told reporters that the Russian document outlining Moscow's demands for ending its full-scale invasion was essentially an ultimatum.

He said there was no point in continuing the peace talks in Istanbul with the current level of Russian delegates because they are not high-ranking enough. Instead, he called for a meeting with Putin.

"We are ready for exchanges, but to continue diplomatic meetings in Istanbul at a level that does not solve anything further, I think, is pointless," Zelenskyy said, referring to the two agreements for prisoner of war swaps that have come out of the talks.

He said instead that he was ready to hold a meeting with Putin and Trump "any day," adding that he was proposing that a ceasefire be put in place before any such summit, which would also include Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan.

Russia's security chief, Sergei Shoigu, discussed the Ukraine conflict with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang Wednesday, according to Moscow's embassy.

"Sergei Shoigu was received by the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un," the embassy said, adding that they "exchanged views on the situation around the Ukrainian crisis and the Korean peninsula."

North Korea has become one of Russia's allies during its more than three-year war in Ukraine, sending thousands of troops to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from the border region of Kursk.

Pyongyang is also believed to be arming Russia. Wednesday's visit marks Shoigu's second trip to Pyongyang in less than three months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the purpose of peace talks with Ukraine,  accusing Kyiv's senior leadership of orchestrating deadly "terrorist" attacks on two Russian bridges that killed seven people and injured 115 more.

Ukraine has not commented on the blasts.

According to Russian investigators, Ukraine blew up a highway bridge over a railway on Saturday just as a passenger train carrying 388 people was passing underneath it.

Putin said the attacks on the bridge in Bryansk and another one in Kursk had been directed clearly against the civilian population.

The Russian leader's statements come as Russia carries out daily drone and missileattacks on Ukrainian cities, with the lastest on Sumy yesterday killing at least three people. Russian missiles frequently strike civilian targets like apartment blocks. 

 

Ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Brussels, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that a multinational initiative to strengthen Ukrainian air defense, called "Immediate Action on Air Defense," is to be relaunched.

"It is obvious every day: Russia continues to attack Ukraine from the air. The number of drone and cruise missile attacks is immense. Again and again, innocent Ukrainians die or are injured in these attacks,” said Pistorius.

Pistorius also announced that the group supporting the expansion of electromagnetic combat capabilities would grow, with Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Sweden, and Turkey expressing interest in joining the initiative.

The initiative involves securing Ukrainian communications, reconnaissance, and disrupting Russian communications and drones.

Pistorius described Ukraine's recent drone attacks, which destroyed Russian military aircraft deep within Russian territory, as spectacular blows. "Ukraine is not giving up," he stressed.

Defense ministers from Germany, Great Britain, and many other countries are meeting in Brussels to coordinate additional military aid for Ukraine. Ukraine's defense minister is also attending the meeting. Noticeably absent, however, is US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose predecessor, Lloyd Austin, had formerly chaired the contact group meetings.

Russian troops are advancing in the northeastern Sumy region and continuing to attack Ukrainian cities from the air. On Wednesday, Germany said it would try and organize more air defense systems for Kyiv. 

However, Ukraine has landed blows of its own against Russia, with assymetric attacks. 

On Tuesday, Ukraine's Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that it had damaged the foundations of the Kerch Bridge with more than a metric ton of explosives in a months-long planned underwater operation.

This comes after a drone attack over the weekend that destroyed Russian strategic bombers. 

DW provides the latest news, analysis, and insights from our reporters and correspondents covering Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.