VOLODYMYR Zelensky has ridiculed Vladimir Putin's threat of revenge for the damaging Operation Spiderweb attack.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump revealed he had spoken to the Russian tyrant who said he "will have to respond" to the drone strike which inflicted an estimated $7bn in damage.
The two leaders held a 75-minute phone call where they discussed rising tensions in Ukraine, as well as Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace,” Trump wrote.
“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.”
The call, confirmed by the Kremlin, follows Operation Spiderweb — a daring Ukrainian drone blitz that wrecked 41 Russian planes across four strategic airfields, in a coordinated assault likened to WWII’s most audacious missions.
After details of the call were released by Trump, Zelensky accused Putin of taking everyone for fools.
He said: "Since the beginning of this year, the Russian army has carried out attacks against Ukraine using nearly 27,700 aerial bombs, almost 11,200 Shahed drones, around 9,000 other types of attack UAVs, and more than 700 missiles, including ballistic ones.
"Even after all of Russia’s horrific attacks, he is reportedly preparing yet more so-called 'responses'.
"It means, that with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world — to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it."
The war of words comes after newly released footage from Ukraine shows drone after drone spiralling down onto Putin’s nuclear bomber fleet, turning the aircraft into flaming wrecks.
In one dramatic clip, a drone hones in on a bomber while another lies burning nearby. In another, a row of bombers blazes along the runway.
Ukraine's intelligence service, the SBU, deployed 117 kamikaze drones, each with its own pilot, targeting the Olenya, Belaya, Dyagilevo, and Ivanovo-Severny air bases — deep inside Russian territory.
The swarm of drones was launched from shipping containers hidden in plain sight, with Russian lorry drivers unknowingly parking them next to military bases.
As civilians watched in disbelief, the containers cracked open and unleashed the aerial assault.
Ukraine said the cost to the Kremlin could reach $7 billion (£5.4bn), wiping out a major chunk of its long-range aviation fleet, including Tu-95MS and Tu-22M bombers and A-50 spy planes.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he personally authorised the operation 18 months ago, declaring: “It’s genuinely satisfying when something I authorized a year and six months ago comes to fruition and deprives Russians of over forty units of strategic aviation. We will continue this work.”
Despite the humiliation, Putin didn’t mention the strikes in his first public appearance after the attack — instead accusing Ukraine of being “terrorists” and citing civilian deaths in rail network strikes.
His negotiators even issued fresh ceasefire terms demanding Ukraine surrender territory, limit its army, and recognise Crimea as Russian.
But Putin’s threats don’t stop with Ukraine.
In the same call with Trump, he discussed Iran’s nuclear programme and growing tensions in the region.
“I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement,” Trump wrote.
“President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion.”
Meanwhile, fears of a broader war are exploding across Eastern Europe, as Russia reportedly plans to deploy 10,000 troops into Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria — potentially opening a new front on Ukraine’s southwestern border.
Moldova’s pro-EU Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned: “They want to consolidate their military presence in the Transnistrian region.”
“Currently, their forces there are almost meaningless. But with a higher military presence in Transnistria that a Russia-leaning government can allow for, they can consolidate.”
Recean claimed Russia is meddling in Moldova’s September elections, spending the equivalent of 1% of the country’s GDP on influence campaigns to help install a more Kremlin-friendly government.
Transnistria’s leader Vadim Krasnoselsky has issued a stark warning of his own: “A war in Transnistria would mean a direct conflict between Russia and NATO. I don’t have the slightest doubt about it.”
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