President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin intends to retaliate “very strongly” against Ukraine for a surprise drone strike on Russian airfields over the weekend, a declaration that provoked alarm in Washington and abroad even as Trump touted his efforts to bring peace to the region.

President Donald Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. In an Oval Office meeting Thursday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday that a second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine was useful despite Kyiv's attempt to disrupt them by staging attacks Putin considered terrorism,