President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin intends to retaliate “very strongly” against Ukraine for a surprise drone strike on Russian airfields over the weekend, a declaration that provoked alarm in Washington and abroad even as Trump touted his efforts to bring peace to the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to the recent Ukrainian drone attacks, the US president said

President Trump said the Russian leader told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he would respond to the drone assault on his country’s airfields.