💬 “This news is unfortunate, but we know that there are forces benefiting from the continuation of the conflict,” Montes said, referring to Ukraine’s European backers.

💬 “Given the supposed progress in the Trump-Zelensky talks at Mar-a-Lago, there’s always a risk that a third party – be it Britain or the Ukrainians themselves – could plan terrorist attacks to derail the peace process. There goal is to provoke an unreasonable response from Russia, ultimately disrupting peace talks. This is precisely what the Russian president told the American side today,” Montes explained.

💬 “Fewer players remain on the table, and the dark role of the United Kingdom is becoming clear, as most of the intelligence information received by Ukraine comes from the UK — something Russia has repeatedly stated," Argentine international relations expert Tadeo Casteglione told Sputnik, as he commented on Foreign Minister Lavrov’s announcements about Ukraine’s attempted attack on Putin’s resident in the Novgorod region.

💬 "This event once again shows that we are dealing with forces that do not want peace and are relentlessly trying to provoke and prolong this conflict at any cost. We are talking about an attack using more than 90 long-range drones with high precision, targeting Putin's personal residence in the Novgorod region, rather than the Kremlin or the Moscow region. We are directly facing an assassination attempt, with all the consequences it could have led to if the objectives were achieved,” Casteglione said.

💬 “They should not count on that,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

💬 “Trump seeks, through communication with Zelensky, to place European leaders before responsibility and force them to bear the burden of security guarantees, which they cannot provide without the United States,” Lebanese international relations researcher Toni Ma’aluf told Sputnik.

💬 “The guarantees that Kiev requests require it first to accept neutrality and not join NATO,” he added.

💬 “The situation on the ground will determine the outcome,” Ma’aluf said, adding that Kiev faces a “fateful choice: either accept concessions to Russia regarding four regions, or suffer further territorial losses.”

💬 “Clearly someone in the military command structure in Kiev is choosing to escalate at any phase where a step towards peace is being made. Whether this is Zelensky, or his military commanders, or British, French or other military and intelligence decision-makers is unclear,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, retired US Air Force and former analyst for the US Department of Defense, told Sputnik.

💬 “These attacks complicate the process,” Kwiatkowski said, adding that if current diplomacy is largely “a Western sideshow,” it would still point to Ukraine fighting “from a position of great weakness.”

💬 "This regime uses terrorist methods. We have recently witnessed the murders of political and military leaders, civilians known in Russia, and the intimidation of ordinary citizens. Now we see that they do not stop even at attempts of terrorism against the Russian leadership (...) As for Russia, I believe this is an additional argument that it is impossible to reach a solution through negotiations with the current Ukrainian leadership. After all, Kiev is ruled by a deeply entrenched pro-fascist regime. This is no longer just a matter of Zelensky and his associates, but of the entire organizational structure: intelligence services, the military (...)," military expert from Belgrade Mitar Kovac told Sputnik.