There are conflicting claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s helicopter came under attack from Ukraine while visiting a new nuclear power plant in the Kursk region.
A Russian commander said Putin’s helicopter “was at the epicenter of repelling a large-scale attack by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones during a visit to the Kursk region.” Ukrainian officials are pushing back against that claim, denying that any attack took place.
There is no dispute that Putin visited the new Kursk nuclear power plant on May 20. What happened while he was there is the center of controversy.
The Ukrainian Stratcom Center called the attack on Putin’s helicopter “a lie.”
“Pro-Kremlin media covering Putin’s trip claimed that he moved through the region exclusively by car,” the Ukrainian Stratcom Center said on its Facebook page. “Footage of the motorcade was shown on all federal TV channels. In addition…neither the Ministry of Defense, nor the Russian media and Telegram channels [reported] the attack of the UAV, which on scale would match the words of Dashkin.” That was a reference to Yuri Dashkin, commander of the air defense division, whose area of responsibility is the Kursk region. Dashkin on May 25 told the Russian RBC news outlet that during the president’s visit, the Ukrainian military launched an “‘unprecedented attack,’ with air defense destroying 46 drones,” RBC reported.
“We simultaneously waged an anti-aircraft battle and ensured the safety of the president’s helicopter in the air,” Dashkin said.
It is possible, however, that the helicopter was staged at a nearby airfield in case of an emergency.
Some Ukrainian media suggested that Dashkin’s comments were an effort to bolster Putin’s image as a combat commander.
“It is possible that all this is a lie to create a heroic halo for the ‘bunker,’” asserted the Ukrainian CAPLIENKO_UKRAINE FIGHTS Telegram channel.
The War Zone cannot independently verify any of these claims regarding an attack on Putin’s helicopter. However, there is no mention of it on Putin’s official website, the Kremlin Telegram channel or the Russian Defense Ministry Telegram channel.
The back and forth over whether Putin’s helicopter was attacked comes amid growing anger towards him from U.S. President Donald Trump over the course of the conflict. The American leader has expressed outrage on his social media channels over massive Russian attacks on Ukraine while he is trying to end the war.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump said Tuesday morning on Truth Social. “He’s playing with fire!”
In a Sunday social media post, Trump called Putin “crazy.”
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” Trump proclaimed on Truth Social. “He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop…”
He expressed the same sentiment to reporters.
“I’m not happy with what Putin is doing,” Trump said. “He’s killing a lot of people and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and I don’t like it at all.”
Meanwhile, Trump is “seriously considering” lifting Biden-administration preclusions on the use of Western weapons, two senior Western officials told the Kyiv Post on May 25.
“All the previously imposed restrictions – whether already eased or not – are currently under review as President [Trump] believes that the current status quo does not serve our common interests of bringing Russia to the [negotiation] table,” one official said without offering further details.
He is also contemplating new sanctions on Moscow, CNN reported.
“Options were drawn up in the past several weeks to apply new measures punishing Moscow, but so far, Trump has not approved them,” the network noted. “The president said Sunday he would ‘absolutely’ consider new sanctions in the aftermath of a sustained missile and drone bombardment that left many dead.
The barrage was “Russia’s largest combined aerial attack since its full-scale invasion of February 2022,” BBC stated. “At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in Ukraine during the night between Saturday and Sunday after Russia fired 367 drones and missiles.”
In addition, between Sunday evening and Monday morning, the Russian army “launched the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war — 355 attack UAVs, mostly ‘Shaheds,'” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on X.
The BBC said 10 people were killed in that wave of attacks.
The Kremlin downplayed Trump’s statements, suggesting he was merely frustrated by the pace of the ongoing peace talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that those talks went “hand in hand with an emotional overload of absolutely everyone and with emotional reactions.”
Putin, meanwhile, continued to claim Russia is the aggrieved party.
“Speaking on May 26 during a meeting with Russian business leaders, Putin echoed longstanding Kremlin narratives and suggested Russia was unfairly blamed for launching the war,” the Ukrainian United24 media outlet reported.
“Russia was forced to respond to what was happening in Ukraine and is being made out to be the guilty party, but Moscow did not organize the bloody coup of 2014,” Putin said.
In another blow to Trump’s efforts, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov nixed his suggestion that negotiations be held at the Vatican, saying on May 23 Moscow “has no plans for when or where the next meeting between the two nations will take place.”
Those talks are sputtering as each side conducts cross-border attacks.
Russia claims that between May 20 and May 23 it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones, including almost 800 inside Russia. Ukrainian officials say Kyiv was striking military targets.
“Ukraine conducted their most prolonged and intense drone attack on Russian regions following Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire,” former Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Iuliua Mendel stated on X. “The assault, which began on the evening of May 20 and continued nearly uninterrupted until the morning of May 23, targeted 15 Russian regions and occupied Crimea.”
All this comes as Russian forces are pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine and amassing tens of thousands of troops to attack the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Exactly where the prospects of Trump’s peace initiative stand isn’t clear, but there are few to no indications that a breakthrough is close.
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