Kiev, Ukraine – Russia launched 145 drones and six missiles in Ukraine on Tuesday, just minutes after US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin finished their phone conversation.
The attack began in six locations in western Russia, with 45 drones targeting only the Kiev region, Ukrainian officials said.
But they said the strikes damaged private infrastructure while not killing or hurting anyone.
According to Ukrainian President Volodimia Zelenkie, the attack was a way of rejecting Trump’s 30-day ceasefire proposal.
“Today, Putin effectively abandoned the suggestion to stop the fire completely,” he said.
The Ukrainians did.
“President Putin shows that Trump is just a dog in his knee,” said 52-year-old manicureist Lalisa Kozhedab, whose nephew Olexi was killed near Pokrovsk in the eastern part of the country last October.
“The US has lost the Cold War and Ukraine is paying for it,” she told Al Jazeera.
However, analysts are more gentle and cautious.
The “betrayal” of Ukraine’s interests did not arise from Trump Putin’s conversation that lasted more than two hours, said Volodymiafesenko, head of the Kiev pentasync tank.
“Everyone here was very afraid that Putin would turn Trump into a zombie again,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s sensitivity to Putin’s view on the challenges of the Russian Ukraine.
Instead, Fesenko said Trump did not bend over Russian Russia’s call to halt Washington’s military aid to Kiev or force Ukraine to stop mobilizing in exchange for a complete ceasefire.
During the Draconia mobilization campaign, Ukraine replenished its determined frontline forces. And for the first time in over two years, I was able to tackle several towns in eastern Ukraine.
However, Ukrainian forces were driven out of Russia’s western Kursk region and had occupied up to 1,000 square kilometers (385 square miles) since August 2024.
After panicked withdrawals and losses, they now maintain several villages and farms near the border between Russia and Ukraine.
“However, it is too early for Russia to continue to present the ultimate at the next consultation stage,” Fesenko said.
Ironically, Trump and Putin have agreed to implement some of the Kiev peace plans presented in March 11 consultations between us in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the Ukrainian authorities, Fesenko said.
Kyiv suggested stopping air and ocean attacks, as well as a 30-day strike on energy infrastructure.
Panmering, a power plant in Ukraine in Russia, caused a blackout, further hindering the country’s economy.
In response, Kiev doubled drone and missile attacks on Russian oil refineries, fuel depots, military targets and civilian sites.
Kiev is ready to suspend strikes against energy infrastructure, Zelensky said.
“Our side supports that,” Zelensky told a press conference held after Trump Putin’s discussion.
Trump Putin’s conversation could signal a gradual ceasefire that takes weeks, if not months, to be implemented, Fesenko said.
Since Russia launched thousands of drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles each month, the next step – halting air attacks – is beneficial for Ukraine.
However, its effects are more psychological than practical.
Millions of Ukrainians wake up at night to lie, and the howling of air sirens and booming air defense systems shoot down drones, but actual casualties and destruction remain minimal.
“Global Security” speaks amidst tensions in the Middle East
Apart from Ukraine, the Kremlin said Trump and Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Red Sea region and “interactions in nuclear non-proliferation and global security issues.”
In this way, Putin will support Trump’s nuclear program in Iran and the Hutis in Yemen, said Kiev-based analyst Igar Tishkec.
Washington began bombing the Houchys on Saturday despite halting attacks on Red Sea ships after a ceasefire began in Gaza.
“Yes, Putin wants to help Trump kill two birds with one stone,” Tishkevich told Al Jazeera.
But since Tehran uses its influence among Hausis in its own deal with Washington, he said Putin may be bluffing as he doesn’t necessarily want him as a man-in-the-middle.
But if Russia can actually help Iran, Yemen and Trump, Putin will seek concessions in Ukraine, he said.
Trump is on political pickles as he needs a quick peaceful settlement ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin’s leading international supporter.
“When you come, it’s one thing [to negotiations] There’s another thing when you start working and then you’re ready to start working from scratch,” Tishkechch said.
“The biggest losses in Ukraine in the past year”
Meanwhile, Russia is “fragmenting” the issue of Ukraine by providing prerequisites such as separate discussions of war in the Black Sea, Tishkevich said.
Over the past two years, Kiev has managed to destroy Crimea’s annexed Russian warship.
The attack forced the entire Russian Black Sea Fleet to relocate from its main base at Sevastopol in Crimea to the port of Novorosius in Russia.
The Ukrainian agreement to halt strikes in the Black Sea reveals Zelensky’s “political and military defeat,” predicted Nikolei Mitrokin, a researcher at the University of Bremen in Germany.
Kiev already used its advantage in the western part of the Black Sea to reclaim the Ukrainian islands, spitting in the west of the annexed Crimea, losing several islands in the Dnieper Delta.
“This is Ukraine’s biggest loss in the past year,” Mitrokin said.
Meanwhile, Putin would like to use the suspension to promote Trump against peaceful settlements, along with the troops that drove Ukrainians out of Kusk, to occupy more Ukrainian regions.
As a result, he said, there could be more “flesh marchs” or catastrophic head-on attacks on Donetsk’s Ukrainian status.
But earlier this week, Mitrokin predicted that Ukrainian attacks on the border area of Russia’s Belgorod region north of Kursk could neutralize it.
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