Trump says Putin has gone ‘absolutely crazy’ after massive Russian attack on Ukraine
Trump threatens to withdraw from peace efforts after phone call with PutinScroll back up to restore default view.
President Donald Trump expressed his bewilderment after Russia’s latest bombing of Ukraine, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “gone absolutely crazy.”
“I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” Trump said in a Truth Social post on May 25 about the Russian leader. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!
Trump added that Putin is “needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers,” adding that “missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said. Trump has tried to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war in Ukraine, and spoke for more than two hours with Putin earlier this month.
Following the conversation, Trump said peace talks would begin “immediately” after his Russian counterpart refused to attend negotiations on May 15 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In his post on May 25, Trump also blamed Zelenskyy for the ongoing war, saying he was “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does.”
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“Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy condemned “the silence of America” after Russia carried out its largest air raid in three years of war, with a second straight night of massive drone and ballistic missile strikes killing at least 12 people, including three children on Saturday into Sunday.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow had launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in multiple waves on sites across the country.
“Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia,” Ukraine’s president said.
This was not the first time Trump has blamed Zelenskyy for failing to prevent Russia’s invasion. Trump slammed Ukraine for the war in February before an Oval Office dispute with Zelenskyy that led to a breakdown in talks between the two countries.
“He’s always looking to purchase missiles,” Trump said of Zelenskyy in April. “When you start a war, you’ve got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
Earlier on Sunday the US president told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, that was he was “very surprised” that his Russian counterpart had intensified the bombardment of Ukrainian cities despite the US president’s efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Pressed by a reporter to say if he was now seriously considering “putting more sanctions on Russia”, Trump replied: “Absolutely. He’s killing a lot of people. What the hell happened to him?”
The intensity and frequency of this weekend’s strikes contrasted sharply with Trump’s earlier claim that Vladimir Putin was interested in peace.
The attacks meant Kyiv Day – celebrated on the last Sunday in May – began with exhausted people sheltered in bunkers, metro stations and basements.
Ukraine and its European allies have sought to push Moscow into signing a 30-day ceasefire as a first step to negotiating an end to the war. In a blow to their efforts, Trump this week declined to place further sanctions on Moscow for not agreeing to an immediate pause in fighting, as Kyiv had wanted.
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram: “Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murders in western countries. Moscow will fight as long as it has the ability to produce weapons.”
- USA TODAY
