Donald Trump has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “causing problems” as the US President launched a scathing rant on Sunday evening. He also lamented Russian despot Vladimir Putin after Russia launched a huge missile and drone strike on Ukraine.
The US president has threatened to slap Moscow with more strangling sanctions after Kremlin forces unleashed a barrage of deadly strikes across Ukraine. Mr Trump said Zelensky was “doing his country no favours by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop”.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform, he also said he had “always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!
“He is needlessly killing a lot of people…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!”
Mr Trump added: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes was the biggest aerial attack of the war, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces. It was the highest number of missiles fired in a single night since Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Moscow’s latest drone and missile attacks on the capital, Kyiv, and other cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
The volley of missiles came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of striking a peace agreement.
A European “coalition of the willing” is preparing further sanctions on Russia, and the US said it will either continue trying to broker peace or “walk away”.
Last week, Mr Trump and Putin had a two-hour phone call to discuss a US-proposed ceasefire deal.
The US president said he believed it had gone “very well”, adding that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start” negotiations toward a ceasefire and “an end to the war”.
Ukraine has publicly agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin has said Russia will work with Ukraine to craft a “memorandum” on a “possible future peace” – a move described by Kyiv and its European allies as delaying tactics.