US President Donald Trump argued that Ukraine's recent Spiderweb drone operation against Russian airfields gave Russia justification for its retaliatory strike on civilians.
"They gave the reason to go and bomb the hell out of them last night. That's the thing I didn't like about it. When I saw it, I said "Here we go, now it's going to be a strike," Trump said to journalists.
Trump's comments came after he held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 4 June that lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes. During that call, Putin warned that Russia would retaliate for a recent "Spiderweb" drone operation, according to Trump's account.
Russia's Defense Ministry also subsequently characterized its bombardment of Ukraine as retaliation for the Ukrainian airfield operation.
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