In a new statement shared on Truth Social, Donald Trump said ‘really bad’ things would have happened to Russia if it wasn’t for him – and added Vladimir Putin is ‘playing with fire’
Donald Trump has slammed Vladimir Putin again after saying the Russian president “has gone absolutely crazy”. The US president claimed “lots of really bad things” would have happened to Russia “if it weren’t for me” and warned Putin that he is “playing with fire” by continuing to attack Ukraine.
Trump posted on Truth Social: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Meanwhile, a State Department spokesperson said Putin is “getting a sense of President Trump’s anger at the nature of what’s transpiring”.
They also stressed that “both parties need to begin to look at the situation in a direct way with each other to make a difference at this point.” Trump’s latest criticism of Putin comes after he hit out at the Russian leader for pounding Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles for a third straight night.
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“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. He added that 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 Zelensky as well, saying that he is “doing his Country no favours by talking the way he does.” Trump wrote on social media: “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
The US president has increasingly voiced irritation at Putin and the inability to resolve the now three-year-old war, which Trump promised he would promptly end as he campaigned to return to the White House.
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 on 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. “