As anticipated, based on the previous comments by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, following the significant increase in NATO war likelihood, President Trump met with military leaders today.
Looks like messaging for all parties involved.
President Trump has not made any statement after Ukraine launched an attack yesterday deep into Russia targeting long-range nuclear capable bombers. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also remained quiet throughout the day today. However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, publicly bragged about the operation today.
According to Turkish officials (note silence from Russia & Ukraine), the previously scheduled meeting between Russian and Ukranian negotiators ended today after less than an hour. There are no details about what took place inside the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, just that once the meeting attendees were seated and gave initial remarks, the event dissolved. Both the Russian and Ukrainian teams left the building.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared full of nervous energy as she spoke to journalists outside the White House, noting that President Trump was in meetings and discussions all day while taking phone calls.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also remained silent.
Inside Russia the general sense is one of preparation. As I noted in my debrief from last year, the government of Russia has been preparing the Russian people for an expanded escalation of the conflict for quite some time. The Russian media are deliberately pointing to Ukraine -and only Ukraine- in their domestic reporting of the attacks. There is no mention within Russian media of EU, NATO or USA support for the events that took place Sunday; however, there were a few mentions of Great Britain as a likely assistant to the attacks.
Ukraine President Zelenskyy is playing with fire by targeting them, which also explains why Zelenskyy never told President Trump in advance.
The U.S and NATO have provided the means. However, #1) did Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just exploit a vulnerability by targeting Russian long-range nuclear capable bombers? and #2) was the CIA and NATO intelligence community a willfully blind participant knowing they would benefit?
Both the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), call for U.S. and Russian long range nuclear capable bombers to remain “visible and observable by national technical means of verification.” That open visibility creates a mutual vulnerability as well as a method of surveillance and verification for both the USA and Russian Federation.
[Article III, Paragraph 7, START Treaty Overview]
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and by extension his NATO enablers, just exploited that SALT/START vulnerability and used drones to attack Russian bombers covered by USA-Russia treaties. There are reports (and videos) now surfacing from inside Russia showing the Russian Federation moving strategic long-range mobile missile launchers into position for a counterattack against Ukraine.
This situation is obviously very fluid and let us all hope that President Trump and President Putin are in communication about this escalation as created by Zelenskyy and his enablers, even if -and probably especially if- our own intelligence agencies are part of the enabling.
Think about the ramifications of NATO enabled Ukraine targeting major Russian military assets which are vulnerable only because they are part of a previously agreed U.S-Russia negotiation to remain vulnerable. In essence, an argument can be made by Russia that NATO -and by extension us- have targeted nuclear capable missile systems, and those systems were protected by the SALT/START treaties. How would we respond if an adversary launched a strike against our strategic long-range nuclear capable bombers in the USA?
The basic outline of what took place are now a bit clearer. In what was called “Operation Spider Web” Ukraine counterintelligence operatives staged a series of semi-trucks near five strategic air bases deep inside Russia. The trucks were loaded with explosive drones, and the drones came out and attacked the bases. Most of the truck drivers and drone operators were captured by Russian military. It was a suicide mission.
According to Ukraine government officials the mission was a big success; however, the claim of 40 strategic long-range Russian bombers being destroyed seems more like a PR narrative than likely actual outcome.
Factually, it was a counterintelligence success to pull off such a well-coordinated significant operation deep inside the Russian Federation. However, on the other hand this operation outlines how Russia is more like the USA than people think as it relates to the locations of their military bases and the vulnerable proximity around them.
Most Americans think of Russia as some form of locked-down totalitarian state where every square inch is under strict surveillance. My recent travels throughout Russia highlight exactly the opposite. Russia is far more open and unmonitored; yes, even around military bases, than our own country. There is not a big matrix of surveillance around the Russian Federation at all.
Some of the five known attacks took place 2,000km deep into Russia. According to Axios, “Ukrainian intelligence agents launched 117 attack drones from trucks that have been covertly placed near Russian air bases — some of them in Siberia — thousands of kilometers from Ukraine. Around 40 Russian military planes — most of them strategic bombers — were reportedly hit in the attack. Zelensky said 34% of Russias strategic bombers were hit.”
I doubt the accuracy of that “40” hit target number with 117 drones; yet even if true, not all the targeted aircraft would be completely disabled.
According to CBS, “The drones hit airfields including the Belaya air base in Russia’s Irkutsk region, more than 2,500 miles from Ukraine. It is the first time that a Ukrainian drone has been seen in the region, local Gov. Igor Kobzev told AP, stressing that it did not present a threat to civilians. While White House spokespeople declined to comment on the attack, administration sources told CBS News on Sunday that the White House was not aware it was coming.”
President Donald Trump participates in the swearing-in ceremony for Interim USAO for the DC office, Jeanine Pirro. The media question segment begins at 8:45 of the video below and there is a lot of news within the press portion.
The first question surrounds Russia and the recent statements from the Kremlin. President Trump says he is not able to give opinion on the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the moment and will await approximately two weeks until the “terms” are received from Russia. President Trump directed attention to Emissary Steve Witkoff who is coordinating with both Russia and Hamas in Gaza on both issues.
When pushed on the terminology being used by himself and the Russians, President Trump deferred larger more detailed opinion.
Regarding the Big Beautiful Bill and the public criticism from Elon Musk, President Trump notes the bill contains some aspects he does not like, but it required some give and take to get through the House. The Senate priorities may be different from the House priorities and those details are being worked on. There is “zero democrat support” and that makes things more challenging for Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson.
On the subject of tariffs, President Trump states the negotiations with China and Europe continue with abundant leverage to ensure the best interests of the USA are contained within the results. As noted by Trump “it takes a number” to begin the discussion and from that point things progress.
Back to Ukraine, President Trump is willing to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Geneva, but “it takes two” and Russian participation is needed in order to get to a ceasefire. Further discussions with Zelenskyy are possible, but ultimately President Trump needs Vladimir Putin. As far as sanctions against Russia are concerned, President Trump will only consider them as part of a negotiation point if he reaches the conclusion that no other options are possible.
The second important revelation question surrounds Iran, when President Trump was asked if he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against taking “some sort of [military] actions against Iran.” President Trump said he would be honest and that yes, he did tell Netanyahu it would be “inappropriate” at this point of the negotiations to attack or do something provocative because he is confident a deal with Iran could be made. This will make the Israeli lobby very unhappy.
Currently there is a war of influence within the online conservative media space between the influencers who receive funding from Qatar and the influencers who receive funding from Israel. This is creating division within the base MAGA movement.
Eventually both sides have to get past the talking points and start putting demands to paper.
According to President Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, Ukraine has put forth a draft proposal outlining their general terms for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Now the Trump administration is awaiting a similar draft from the Kremlin.
Once both drafts, what they are calling “term sheets”, are received and reviewed it appears that President Trump will reengage the process and seek to bring both parties to the negotiation table. At least that looks like the general outline.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, notably an anti-Russia leaning participant in the construct (worked for Mike Pence), appeared on Fox and Friends earlier this morning to discuss the current status of the issues, against the backdrop of President Trump’s frustration. WATCH:
(Via MSM) – […] “We have received everything we need. The facts are sufficient for action. We do not need any more evidence,” Kellogg said he said on Fox News, speaking about recent developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Following the first direct meeting between Ukraine and Russia since the war started in Istanbul on May 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin would draw up a draft proposal listing its conditions for a lasting peace, which is due to be released this week.
Following last week’s phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, there is currently a multi-nation prisoner exchange in the works being coordinated with ‘seven’ (looks like six to me) nations.
NBC has some details on the dynamic [SEE HERE] which includes this paragraph: “The massive deal, cut among seven nations, involved 24 people, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens held in Russia, and eight Russians imprisoned in the U.S., Germany, Slovenia, Norway and Poland.”
This comes amid some rather complicated -to untangle- western media gaslighting around the dynamic of U.S-Russia relations. However, if you cut through the chaff and countermeasures assigned within the prose, there are cautious indications to be optimistic.
Remember, President Trump’s emissary Steven Witkoff and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have spent a great deal of time, literal facetime, with both Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov seems to have a good take on the Trump dynamic overall within this statement attributed to him by TASS, the Russian news agency.
“He sees some of the Europeans are working to sabotage his efforts [on peace]… of course, he gets emotional, and, of course, as someone who does not like anything to stand in the way of his noble goals, he looks at it a certain way,” Lavrov said, according to Russian news outlet Tass.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov is calm and cool overall when considering the European effort to ramp up conflict. Peskov is noting that U.K, French and German missiles would still need to utilize USA micro-chips, and advance satellite tracking, within any deployed missile targeting systems.
The escalation continues and unfortunately there are few indications the people around President Donald Trump are advising caution.
The U.K, German, French, EU, NATO and ‘western’ intelligence control agents are pushing for expanded conflict with Russia. The latest development comes as the new leftist German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gives the greenlight for Ukraine to launch long-range Taurus cruise missiles directly into Russia.
(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Ukraine has been given permission to use weapons supplied by its allies to launch strikes deep inside Russia.
“There are absolutely no range limits anymore for weapons delivered to Ukraine, not from Britain, the French or from us — also not from the Americans,” Merz said at a conference in Berlin on Monday. “That means Ukraine can defend itself by attacking military positions also in Russia.”
[…] Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to intensify pressure on the Kremlin after Moscow launched its biggest drone barrage against Ukraine since the full-scale invasion over three years ago. European leaders have condemned what they call Russia’s foot-dragging as efforts to lock in a ceasefire have gone nowhere.
[…] Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that, if confirmed, a decision to allow long-range strikes could undermine efforts toward reaching a political settlement, according to Interfax. He called such a decision “dangerous.” (read more)
The proxy war between the U.S/NATO and Russia is now entering its fourth year.
In some ways these efforts by the ‘coalition of the nervously willing’ only solidify the previous position of Russian President Vladimir Putin that any western move toward a diplomatic handshake was generally duplicitous and not to be trusted. Hence, Putin has instructed the armed forces of the Russian Federation to continue building out an expanded ‘buffer zone’ between Russian held territory and NATO within Ukraine.
Russia has continued the operation to secure a “buffer zone” between the held regions in the Eastern part of Ukraine and the area west of the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions. The NATO alliance continues pouring weapons in to support Ukraine defenses, but the Russians are methodically grinding down the Ukrainian military.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now saying President Trump’s silence is emboldening the Russian assaults. “Each such terrorist attack by Russia is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia. Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram Sunday morning. “The world may go on vacation, but the war continues, despite weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. America’s silence, and the silence of others in the world, only encourages Putin,” he continued.
This is an interesting dynamic to continue watching unfold. In the background as Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio and perhaps even John Ratcliffe begin confronting rogue elements within the CIA and pulling them away from covert operation in Ukraine, per the strategic withdrawal of influence announced by President Trump, the position of Zelenskyy could weaken quickly.
President Trump participated in an event to honor Law Enforcement today at the White House. At the conclusion of the ceremony President Trump took questions from the media [15:00 of video below]. The majority of the questions were about President Trump’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the remarks about Joe Biden’s diagnosis are very interesting. WATCH:
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