“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 wrote in a social media post on Sunday night.
Trump said Putin is “needlessly killing a lot of people,” pointing out that “missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
The attack was the largest aerial assault since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, according to Ukrainian officials. At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured.
The US president warned that if Putin wants to conquer all of Ukraine, it will “lead to the downfall of Russia!”
But Trump expressed frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well, saying that he is “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,” Trump wrote on social media.
He had long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin and repeatedly stressed that Russia is more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal.
But last month, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” assaulting Ukraine after Russia launched another deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, and he has repeatedly expressed his frustration that the war in Ukraine is continuing.
“I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing. He’s killing a lot of people. And I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters earlier Sunday as he departed northern New Jersey, where he spent most of the weekend.
“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people and I don’t like it at all.”
The European Union has slapped new sanctions on Russia this month in response to Putin’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire. But while Trump has threatened to step up sanctions and tariffs on Russia, he hasn’t acted so far.
