Ukraine Just ‘Gave Putin A Reason To Bomb The Hell Out Of Them,’ Trump Says

On Friday Trump was asked whether Ukraine’s drone strikes deep inside Russia changed his view of Zelensky’s “cards”. For months, Trump has said that Kiev has no cards to play, but reporters wondered if last Sunday’s ‘Operation Spider’s Web’ – which involved Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia and damage at five key airbases, including destruction of strategic bombers – has changed where things stand in Trump’s mind.

Trump responded to reporters aboard Air Force One by saying, “Well they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That’s the thing I didn’t like about it.”

“When I saw it I said, ‘Here we go, now it’s going to be a strike'” – Trump continued, in reference to what has become major nightly tit-for-tat strikes this past week. Ukraine has lately scored direct drone hits on crucial Russian military-industrial sites.

A reporter then asked: “Are you worried that Russia-Ukraine could spiral into a nuclear conflict?” And Trump responded: “I don’t… I hope not. I hope not.”

The US President was then questioned on where he stands regarding Graham’s Russia sanctions bill. Trump said the following:

“We’re going to see. I think Russia will not be making a deal stopping …. Thousand a week soldiers being killed and people being killed, not just soldiers. People being killed…I’ll use it if it’s necessary.”

Trump then denied reports that he is seeking to intervene with the Senate in order to water down the Graham bill. “No, I haven’t spoken to them about it. They have the bill, it’s going to be up to me. It’s my option. They made it that way….its a very  strong bill,” he said.

“They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That’s something I didn’t like about it when I saw it. I said, here we go now.”

Getting bombed was always part of Kiev’s plan. Their inability to manufacture a warcrime out of Russia’s response is where… pic.twitter.com/XqSUIVeIhz

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) June 7, 2025

Graham, who authored the legislation, has provocatively described it as “the most draconian bill I’ve ever seen in my life in the Senate” – and many analysts fear it could reverse current Trump progress toward restoring US-Russia bilateral relations, and it might kill the chance of a future Trump-Putin sit-down meeting.

 Over 80 Senators have signed on as cosponsors of the current form of the legislation, but some Republican senators have held off to give Trump-backed negotiations a chance.

As for the overnight Thursday, or early Friday morning hours attack on Ukraine by Russia, The NY Times has described:

Over the course of some five hours after midnight, Russia launched 407 drones and decoys, nearly 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles from land, air and sea at towns and cities across the breadth of the nation, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement. It appeared to be the second-largest drone assault of the war, after Russia launched nearly 500 drones last weekend.

New footage showing what was either an Iskander-M ballistic missile strike, or a massive secondary detonation in Kyiv yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Fb8Y0mBevK

— AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 (@AMK_Mapping_) June 6, 2025

But interestingly, Trump’s aforementioned response to all these developments could invite more such attacks, given the president has framed it as merely the expected retaliatory response in war. Europe, however, has been seeking more vehement and direct condemnation of Moscow from the White House. Yet Trump is expressing a ‘realist’ position.