US President Donald Trump believes that Ukraine's surprise drone attack on russian airfields over the weekend was "badass" and "strong," but he is also concerned that it will complicate his mission to achieve a ceasefire, Axios reports, citing sources who discussed the matter with him.
Thus, it is noted that Trump has been surprisingly silent in public when it comes to his personal feelings about the Ukrainian attack. However, in private, he has expressed admiration for the operation.
Behind the scenes, Trump commented to one of his confidants, who relayed his comments to Axios: "Pretty cool."
"He thought it was badass," a second source said of Trump's reaction.
One of Trump’s advisers also said: “From an international perspective, you've got a chihuahua inflicting some real damage on a much bigger dog.”
According to another source familiar with the situation, Trump also told people he met with in recent days that the drone attack would likely prompt russian leader vladimir putin to take very serious action in response.
The source said Trump was concerned that such a scenario would derail his diplomatic initiative, which has led to the first direct talks between the two sides in three years, he said.
“We want this war to end. We want it to de-escalate. So if Putin goes crazy in response, yeah, the president has concerns,” said another source who spoke to Trump.
Trump said on Wednesday that Putin had “very strongly” told him he intended to retaliate. "It was a good conversation, but not one that will lead to immediate peace," Trump said of their phone call.
It is noted that one of the reasons why the attack by Ukraine worried the White House was that it was directed against strategic bombers, which can carry nuclear weapons and are a key part of russia's nuclear deterrent.
"This is a very dangerous moment," said the US official.
A senior White House official said: "The drone attack did not surprise him, because that's what happens when a war is going on, but he is concerned that it will continue the fighting. He wants the fighting to stop, so he is disappointed with every attack like this."
The publication summarized, despite these concerns, Trump was also impressed with what the Ukrainians did.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the US President was unaware that the Security Service of Ukraine was preparing an attack on russian airfields.
Following a telephone conversation with putin, Trump said that russian dictator vladimir putin was preparing a response to Ukraine for the recent successful attack on airfields, which resulted in the downing of 41 aircraft.
Recall that on June 1, the SSU carried out a large-scale operation to destroy russian strategic aviation. Drones launched from trucks near the Olenya and Belaya airfields hit more than 40 aircraft, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3. The russian federation's losses are estimated at over USD 2 billion.
On the evening of June 3, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine updated the statistics on the destruction of aircraft at russian military airfields after the SSU special operation. The update confirmed the destruction of 41 military aircraft on June 1. Although in the morning of the same day he announced the destruction of only 12 aircraft.
The Security Service of Ukraine during the Spiderweb Operation hit three named strategic bombers Tu-95MS - "Voronezh", "Chelyabinsk" and "Kozelsk".
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