In this episode of "The Never-Ending Russia-Ukraine War"...
Are you sitting down? As the seemingly never-ending war between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky's Ukraine continues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Monday that Ukraine launched a drone attack against Putin's home in northern Russia, while Zelensky flat-out denied the report, calling the allegation a "complete fabrication."
In other words, either Putin or Zelensky is lying. I know; try to control your shock and amazement.
Anyway, in either case, as Reuters reported, "Peace hopes dented as Russia says Ukraine tried to attack Putin residence." The outlet continued:
Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of trying to attack President Vladimir Putin's residence in northern Russia, although it provided no evidence to back up an assertion that Kyiv dismissed as baseless and designed to undermine peace negotiations.
The angry exchanges – including a statement by Russia that it was reviewing its stance in negotiations in response to the attack – dealt a new blow to prospects for peace in Ukraine.
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Florida and said they were "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to an agreement to end the war, although "thorny" territorial issues remained.
Putin also struck a defiant tone on Monday, telling his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, and the Kremlin repeated demands for Kyiv to pull its forces out of the last part of the Donbas area that they still hold in eastern Ukraine.
Putin told Trump by phone that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was reviewing its stance following the reported drone attack, an aide said.
Hmm.
Not to be Mr. Obvious, but given the renewed optimism that the end of the war might finally be in sight, if I were Putin and I wanted to scuttle the peace talks — as he has done more times than I can remember — might I claim an attack on my own residence, as a pretext to run the peace train off the tracks? Yep, I think I might.
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Lavrov accused Ukraine in a statement of moving “towards a policy of state terrorism,” adding that “such reckless actions will not go unanswered.” He said targets and timing for retaliatory strikes had already been determined.
How convenient.
Meanwhile, Zelensky would have none of it:
This alleged ‘residence strike’ story is a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine, including Kyiv, as well as Russia’s own refusal to take necessary steps to end the war. Typical Russian lies. Furthermore, the Russians have already targeted Kyiv in the past, including the Cabinet of Ministers building.
Ukraine does not take steps that can undermine diplomacy. To the contrary, Russia always takes such steps. This is one of many differences between us.
Here's more — just to make the situation more interesting:
Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, said in a separate Telegram statement that Putin and Trump had spoken on Monday and that Putin had been briefed by Trump and his senior advisers about Washington’s negotiations with Ukraine.
Trump was shocked and “literally outraged” when Putin told him that Ukraine had attacked a presidential residence in Novgorod, Ushakov said.
“Russia’s position will be reviewed on a number of agreements reached at the previous stage and on the emerging solutions,” Ushakov said. “This was stated very clearly.”
This is the point where I'd usually write something like "What say you?" at the end of this type of article, but this time, I'll go first.
If I had to bet, I'd wager that it's Russia (Putin) who is lying.
Why? Because, as I suggested earlier, what better way — other than an actual attack by Ukraine — to derail the peace talks? Again.
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