‘Did Trump and Putin discuss this?’: Critic questions Trump's knowledge of impending bombing
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are seen during the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci/File Photo
Hours after Russian leader Vladimir Putin got off the phone with President Donald Trump he launched what may be the largest aerial bombardment on Kyiv since Russia invaded its Ukrainian neighbor in 2022.
The attack, which began Thursday and lasted into Friday hit civilian areas, damaging buildings and transportation infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack a “harsh, sleepless night.”
President Trump spoke with Putin on Thursday, but described the call as unproductive. “No, I didn’t make any progress with him today at all,” said Trump, hours before Putin relayed his contempt for Trump’s appeal for peace with a day-long strike.
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George W. Bush former speechwriter David Frum demanded on X if the subsequent bombardment had come up between the two leaders at some point during the hour-long call.
“Did Trump and Putin discuss this crime in their conversation today?” Frum asked, under a re-post of a photo of Kyiv’s flaming skyline during the attacks.
Frum commented in a follow-up post on the difficulty of celebrating freedom on July 4 during an attack on a U.S. ally.
“Hard to take seriously the red-white-and-blue rhetoric of freedom on a 4th of July where the US president has cut off aid to a democracy fighting for its independence against ferocious attack by a foreign tyrant,” Frum said.
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However emphatic Trump claims his appeal to Putin might have been, Trump’s administration froze shipments of air defense and precision weapons shipments to embattled Ukraine the week of the strike.
“This decision was made to put America's interests first following a DOD review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe," said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, who took care to emphasize U.S. military might in the same statement. “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran.”
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell also made clear the U.S. military “has never been more ready and more capable” while freezing shipments in “America’s interests.”
Financial Times Correspondent Christopher Miller posted “Kyiv didn’t even get notice” of the administration’s freeze air defense weaponry, which led commenters under Frum’s post to acknowledge the coincidence between the call and the timing of the attack.
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“Putin told Trump he was going to do this. Trump answered, ‘Do whatever you want, sir,’” said one critic.
“Yup. Putin asked Trump to merely wait a few more days before delivering the air defense equipment,” replied another.
