On Sunday, President Donald Trump addressed reporters, clarifying that U.S. officials have concluded Ukraine was not responsible for a drone strike allegedly targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence last week. This statement challenges the Kremlin’s assertions that had initially caused Trump significant concern.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had previously accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on Putin’s state residence in the northwestern Novgorod region. According to Lavrov, Russian defense systems successfully thwarted the assault. He further criticized Kyiv for attempting such an attack during a critical phase of peace negotiations.

The accusation emerged shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Florida for discussions with Trump about the U.S. administration’s developing 20-point plan to resolve the ongoing conflict, a claim Zelenskyy swiftly denied.

Trump stated that while there was an incident “nearby,” American officials did not believe Putin’s residence was directly targeted.

“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump remarked to reporters while returning to Washington after a two-week stay in Florida. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check.”

Trump addressed the U.S. determination after European officials argued that the Russian claim was nothing more than an effort by Moscow to undermine the peace effort.

But Trump, at least initially, had appeared to take the Russian allegations at face value. He told reporters last Monday that Putin had also raised the matter during a phone he had with the Russian leader earlier that day. And Trump said he was “very angry” about the accusation.

By Wednesday, Trump appeared to be downplaying the Russian claim. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform that raised doubt about the Russian allegation. The editorial lambasted Putin for choosing “lies, hatred, and death” at a moment that Trump has claimed is “closer than ever before” to moving the two sides to a deal to end the war.

The U.S. president has struggled to fulfill a pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has shown irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to mediate an end to a conflict he boasted on the campaign trail that he could end in one day.

Both Trump and Zelenskyy said last week they made progress in their talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on a 20-point peace plan.

But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia’s objectives are met, including winning control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial Donbas region and imposing severe restrictions on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military and the type of weaponry it can possess.

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Madhani reported from Washington.