The overnight assault – involving 367 drones and missiles – killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens more across Ukraine. It marked the deadliest single-night attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022
Donald Trump has lashed out at Vladimir Putin after Moscow’s most intense airstrike on Ukraine since the war began.
“What the hell happened to him? He’s killing a lot of people,” Trump said on Sunday in a rare jab at the Russian President. Later, in a post on Truth Social, he branded Putin “absolutely crazy.” The overnight assault – involving 367 drones and missiles – killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens more across Ukraine. It marked the deadliest single-night attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Air raid sirens screamed again early on Monday as cities braced for more strikes. In Kharkiv, a child was among three injured, and two more were wounded in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Washington of dangerous inaction, warning that its “silence” only emboldens Putin. He called for “strong pressure,” including harsher sanctions on Moscow.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said of Putin: “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.” Asked about ramping up sanctions, Trump replied, “Absolutely.” Yet, despite repeated threats, he has yet to impose new restrictions on Russia.
In another online post, Trump warned that if Putin truly intends to seize all of Ukraine, “it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”
But Trump didn’t spare Zelensky either. In a striking rebuke, he said the Ukrainian leader “is doing his country no favours by talking the way he does,” adding: “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
While Kyiv’s European allies are pushing for sanctions on Russia, the US says it will continue trying to mediate peace talks, or “walk away” if no progress is made. Trump and Putin had a two-hour long call last week to discuss a US-proposed ceasefire deal to brinf the fighting to a close.
Trump said the call went “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, while Putin says Russia will work with Ukraine to craft a “memorandum” on a “possible future peace”. The move has been described by Kyiv as a way of delaying tactics.