Russia responds to Trump's Ukraine 'ultimatum' with drone strikes: Reuters

Russia continued its nightly bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, shortly after President Donald Trump announced his decision to supply Ukraine with new military equipment and White House threats of further economic measures against Moscow.

Ukraine's air force said Russia targeted several regions overnight with 267 drones, of which around 200 were Shahed attack drones and the rest decoys. The air force said it shot down or otherwise suppressed 244 drones. Twenty-three drones impacted across seven locations, with falling debris reported in nine locations, the air force said.

Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 70 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday morning. Among the areas targeted was the southwestern Voronezh region which borders northeastern Ukraine. At least 24 people were injured there, Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would make a decision about how to respond to Trump.

"The U.S. president's statements are very serious," Peskov told reporters during a daily briefing. "Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin. We definitely need time to analyze what was said in Washington."

Dmitry Medvedev -- the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country's Security Council -- was more forthright, writing on social media that the Kremlin was unmoved by what he called Trump's "theatrical ultimatum."

"The world shuddered, expecting the consequences," wrote Medvedev, who during Moscow's full-scale war on Ukraine has become known as a particularly hawkish voice within Putin's security establishment. "Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn't care."

The Kremlin also on Tuesday dismissed reports -- first published by The Washington Post and Financial Times -- that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if Ukrainian forces could strike Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The White House, though, confirmed to ABC News that the matter was discussed.

"President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "He's working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war."

Leavitt said the reports took the discussion "wildly out of context."

Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday that he would impose "severe tariffs" -- though it was not entirely clear if the president was referring to tariffs, sanctions or both -- against Russia and its trading partners if a ceasefire deal is not reached in 50 days.

Trump also said he had approved a new tranche of weapons to Ukraine worth "billions of dollars." But details of what Trump called a "very big deal" remain unclear. Two U.S. defense officials told ABC News on Monday that the Pentagon was still working on exactly what military aid could be sent to Ukraine.

The defense officials said 17 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems that Trump mentioned would come entirely from European allies, who would then purchase new replacement systems from the U.S.

The Patriot systems -- of which Ukraine currently has at least six, two of which were provided by the U.S. and four by other NATO allies -- have become a key in Ukraine's defense against Russian drone, missile and airstrikes since they arrived in the country in 2023.

"We're going to have some come very soon, within days," Trump said when asked how long the new batch of American weapons would take to arrive. On Patriots specifically, the president said, "They're going to start arriving very soon."

Trump's announcement came after months of rising frustration in the White House over Russia's intensifying bombardments of Ukraine and its failure to commit to a full ceasefire.

Speaking on Sunday, Trump said of Russian Putin, "He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening. There's a little bit of a problem there."

But questions remain about Trump's threat to impose 100% "secondary tariffs" on nations doing business with Russia. The US has negligible imports from Russia, which account for around 0.2% of U.S. imports, according to Census Bureau data.

The threat of secondary tariffs or sanctions on Russia's trading partners appears more significant, though may prompt retaliatory measures against the U.S. China and India, for example, are among Moscow's customers for its fossil fuel exports.

Despite the open questions, Zelenskyy said he had a "very good conversation" with Trump on Monday. "Thank you for your willingness to support Ukraine and continue to work together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace," he wrote on social media.