Russia will respond to Ukraine's latest attacks as and when its military sees fit, the Kremlin has said, accusing Kiev of state terrorism and confirming that President Vladimir Putin had told Donald Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate.
Ukraine used drones to strike Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend, and Russia also accused it of blowing up rail bridges in the south of the country, killing seven people.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at his daily briefing with reporters on Thursday, highlighted comments made by Putin a day earlier about the railway attacks.
"The president described the Kiev regime as a terrorist regime because it was the regime's leadership that consciously gave the order, the command, the order to blow up a passenger train. This is nothing other than terrorism at the state level.
This is an important statement by the president," said Peskov.
Russia has not yet provided evidence that Ukrainian leaders ordered the rail attacks, and Kiev has not acknowledged responsibility.
Ukrainian attacks inside Russia and Russian air strikes and advances on the battlefield have escalated the war that began in February 2022, damaging prospects for peace talks that the two sides resumed in Türkiye last month.
Peskov noted, however, that Putin had supported the view of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting on Wednesday that working-level contacts with Ukraine should continue.
Peskov said Putin and Trump did not discuss holding a face-to-face meeting when they spoke on Wednesday. He said there was a general understanding that such a meeting was necessary, but it had to be properly prepared.
The two did not discuss the possible lifting of sanctions against Russia, Peskov said in reply to a question.
US-Iran
President Vladimir Putin also told US President Donald Trump that he was ready to use Russia's close partnership with Iran to help with negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme, the Kremlin added.
Trump said after the phone call with Putin on Wednesday that time was running out for Iran to make a decision on its nuclear programme and that he believed Putin agreed that the country should not have nuclear weapons.
Putin, according to Trump, suggested that he participate in the discussions with Iran and that "he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion", though Iran was "slowwalking".
"We have close partner relations with Tehran and, naturally, President Putin said that we are ready to use this level of partnership with Tehran in order to facilitate and contribute to the negotiations that are taking place to resolve the issue of the Iranian nuclear dossier," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Asked when Putin could join the negotiations, Peskov said that dialogue with Tehran and Washington continued through various channels.
"The president will be able to get involved when necessary," Peskov said.
