ISTANBUL, January 1. /TASS/. The forces that triggered the Ukraine conflict now seek to expand it to the entire Europe, Turkish journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in the Hurriyet newspaper.
"The forces that unleashed a war between Russia and Ukraine don’t want it to end and seek to expand it to Europe," he noted. In this regard, he pointed to the Istanbul talks on resolving the Ukraine crisis that had taken place in March 2022. "On the day when Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement in Istanbul, Great Britain removed [Vladimir] Zelensly from talks. What happened when [US President Donald] Trump was holding a phone call with [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin and hosting Zelensky at his estate in Florida? An attempt was made to carry out a drone attack on Putin’s residence," the journalist pointed out.
Selvi believes that the forces supporting Ukraine are plotting to set Turkey and Russia against each other. "I know that the two countries’ leaders will not give in to this game. <...> We need cooperation with Russia, not hostility," the commentator noted.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters earlier that overnight to December 29, Ukraine had carried out a terrorist attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novgorod Region, launching 91 unmanned aerial vehicles. All drones were destroyed by air defenses; there were no reports of casualties or damage, Lavrov noted.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, in turn, said that during a phone call with Trump, Putin drew his attention to Kiev’s attack, which took place "almost immediately" after the US-Ukraine talks in Mar-a-Lago, and warned that it would not go unanswered. The Russian leader also told Trump that Moscow’s position in negotiations to resolve the conflict would be revised.