Prior to his phone calls with Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a high-level and extensive video meeting with government leaders and officials. After reports on the actions to save the victims of the Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian railroads, he stated: “The recent explosions on the railways in the Bryansk and Kursk regions certainly qualify as terrorist acts. The decisions to commit such crimes were undoubtedly made at the political level in Ukraine.”
Putin affirmed that since these were targeted strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, “under international law, these actions constitute acts of terrorism.”
“All the crimes perpetrated against civilians, including women and children, ahead of the next round of peace talks in Istanbul that we proposed, were undoubtedly intended to undermine the negotiations. The strike clearly targeted the civilian population. These actions only confirm our concerns that the already illegitimate Kiev regime, having seized power by force, is steadily evolving into a terrorist organization—while its sponsors increasingly serve as accomplices to terrorism.
“Remember that only recently, Ukrainian officials and their allies dreamed of Russia’s strategic defeat on the battlefield. Today, facing massive losses and retreats across the entire contact line, Kiev’s highest ranks have resorted to terrorist tactics in an attempt to intimidate Russia….
