Trump thought Zelensky's Russian air base strikes were ‘badass'
Donald Trump was so impressed by Ukraine's audacious drone raids on Russian warplanes that he described them as 'badass' to aides.
Mr Trump has kept unusually quiet about the Sunday attack on airfields deep inside Russia as he tries to keep both sides talking to each other.
But a report published on Thursday revealed he thought the strikes were 'strong' even as he worried that it would make peace efforts more complicated.
'He thought it was badass,' a source told Axios.
An adviser said: 'From an international perspective, you've got a chihuahua inflicting some real damage on a much bigger dog.'
Kyiv's weekend strikes on airfields destroyed and damaged nuclear-capable aircraft and infuriated Moscow.
'Operation Spider's Web' was reportedly 18 months in the planning.
But it leaves Mr Trump with a dilemma.
Throughout his dealings with Moscow and Kyiv he has openly worried that the conflict could lead to a Third World War, and influential voices in his Maga coalition, such as Steve Bannon, have publicly warned Ukraine's strikes were 'escalatory' and likely to trigger a brutal Russian response.
A third source told Axios: 'We want this war to end. We want it to de-escalate. So if Putin goes crazy in response, yeah, the president has concerns.'
Mr Trump has shied from adding extra sanctions or heaping more pressure on Russia to force it to compromise.
He spoke to Mr Putin by phone on Wednesday.
He posted on social media afterwards: 'President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.'
The Russian president has repeatedly rejected calls for a 30-day ceasefire, insisting that it would simply allow Ukraine to rearm and reorganise.
The result is an impasse for Mr Trump, who came to power promising to end the conflict on day one of his presidency.
On Thursday, Moscow said it would decide 'how and when' to respond.
When Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, was asked what Russia's response would be, he said: 'As and when our military deems it appropriate.'
The issue is reaching a crucial round of diplomacy.
Mr Trump hosts Friedrich Merz, the new German chancellor, at the White House on Thursday. Germany is the second biggest backer of Ukraine after the US.
Then he flies to Canada for a G7 summit followed by a Nato meeting in the Netherlands before the end of the month.
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