President Donald Trump said he did not know about an alleged attempt to strike Vladimir Putin’s home overnight before saying he was actually told about it by the Russian president himself only hours earlier.
Trump, 79, was answering reporters’ questions at the entrance to his Mar-a-Lago club on Monday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he was asked about it.
A reporter noted that Russia was claiming Ukraine tried to hit the Russian president’s residence and asked if Trump had any information on it.
“No, I don’t know about it actually,” Trump said, shaking his head. “I just heard about it, actually, but I don’t know about it.”
“That would be too bad,” the president added, remaining vague. “That would not be good.”
But just moments later, the president revealed that it was actually Putin who told him about it hours earlier, when they spoke by phone on Monday morning.
“I heard about it this morning,” Trump said. “You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it, early in the morning. He said he was attacked. That’s no good.”
Trump said it was one thing to “be offense because they’re offensive,” but he said it was another thing to attack Putin’s house.
“It’s not the right time to do any of that, and can’t do it,” the president said. “And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”
The questions came just hours after Trump spoke by phone with Putin from his club in Florida.
It also came one day after he met in person with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who traveled down to Mar-a-Lago for a sit-down with the president as he attempts to broker a peace deal.
Asked if there was intelligence about the strike, Trump indicated it was “possible” the strike did not take place as Putin claimed.
“You’re saying maybe the attack didn’t take place. It’s possible too, I guess, but President Putin told me this morning it did,” Trump admitted.
As the president appeared ready to accept Putin’s allegation that Ukraine tried to strike one of his residences, Ukrainian officials strongly denied the allegation.
In a post on X, Zelensky wrote, “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.”
The Ukrainian president noted that the accusations came one day after he met with Trump for hours toward a peace deal.
However, after making the allegation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Russia’s negotiating position “will be revised.” He also indicated there would be “retaliatory strikes.”
