«They were given a pretext»: Trump says Ukraine provoked Russian strikes on its own
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- Alisa Melik-Adamian
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9:00, 07 June, 2025
US President Donald Trump said that Russian shelling of Ukraine over the past few days is a response to the operation to destroy strategic aircraft «Pavutyna».
He told journalists on board his plane.
According to him, Ukraine «gave the reason to go and bomb them to pieces last night».
«When I saw this (the results of the operation, — note), I said: «Well, now there's going to be a blow», Donald Trump said.
Overnight, the Russians launched 452 air attack weapons at Ukraine: 407 Shahed and other types of attack UAVs, ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles.
Special operation «Pavutyna»
The special operation «Pavutyna», which resulted in the downing of 41 Russian strategic aircraft by the Security Service of Ukraine, had been prepared for over a year and a half.
Later, journalist Yurii Butusov disclosed the details of the SSU operation, noting that the agents had entered Russian territory.
The SSU estimates the value of the destroyed Russian strategic aircraft at Russian airfields at seven billion dollars.
After the large-scale SSU attack on Russian airfields, the first satellite images of the long-range aviation base «Belaia» in Irkutsk region were published online. The images show significant damage and destruction of Russian warplanes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that successful Ukrainian operations, such as the recent «Pavutyna», should make Russia think about the diplomatic route.