Moscow to decide 'how and when' to respond Ukraine attack on airbases: Kremlin

MOSCOW: Moscow will decide “how and when” to respond to Ukraine’s attacks on its airbases, the Kremlin said Thursday, confirming that Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump that Russia would retaliate.

Kyiv’s weekend strikes on Russian airfields deep inside Russia destroyed nuclear-capable aircraft and infuriated Moscow.

“As and when our military deems it appropriate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked what Moscow’s response would be.

The planes were parked at airfields deep inside Russian territory, including in Siberia.

After a phone call with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said on social media: “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.”

Putin has repeatedly rejected a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and on Wednesday said that Kyiv would use it to rearm and mobilise.

Trump’s efforts to end the more than three-year conflict in Ukraine have so far yielded few results.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump did not agree on a time to meet during their phone conversation but that “there is an understanding that a meeting is necessary.”

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for talks with Putin, but the longtime Russian leader said Wednesday: “What can we talk about with terrorists?”.