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, Reuters reported.
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.
Trump told reporters after the call that he had no further information about the alleged attack.
"It's one thing to be offensive," Trump said. "It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that. And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it."
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