President Donald Trump launched a fierce criticism of Vladimir Putin, asserting that the Russian leader has gone completely mad in the wake of the latest deadly assault on Ukraine.

Trump denounced the extensive attack and Putin’s ‘senseless killing of many people’ in a remarkable critique on Sunday night, along with a grim warning about Russia’s future if the violence persists.

The statement came after Russia launched the single largest aerial attack of the war so far – in a direct insult to Trump’s efforts at mediation.

‘I’ve maintained a positive relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has changed with him,’ Trump stated on his Truth Social platform.

‘He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. 

‘Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.’

Trump said he has always believed that Putin ‘wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it’, but warned if Putin continues down his current path ‘it will lead to the downfall of Russia.’

‘This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s.”

‘I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.’

Despite his very blunt words for Putin, Trump also included a caveat that Ukraine is not completely absolved of fault for the devastating war. 

‘Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does,’ he said, reigniting the tension between the two leaders.

‘Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier called on Trump to condemn the attack. 

‘The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,’ he wrote on Telegram.

‘Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.’

Trump’s latest remarks largely echo what he said on the tarmac of Morristown Airport in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon.

He was asked to provide an update on the war in Ukraine on Sunday as he departed his Bedminster golf club to return to Washington. 

‘Yeah, I’ll give you an update. I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing,’ Trump said. ‘He’s killing a lot of people.’

Trump then revealed his fear that the Russian leader suddenly had a dangerous change of heart. 

‘I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people.

‘We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all… I don’t know what’s wrong with him.’

Trump said he was ‘absolutely’ now considering more sanctions on Russia due to Putin’s behavior. 

The president had spoken with Putin on the phone for two hours on Monday – but the conversation ultimately did not result in a ceasefire deal.

At least 12 have been reported dead and 57 injured.

Among the dead were at least three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials said. 

Trump had been largely silent on the war while he spent parts of Saturday and Sunday at his New Jersey golf club. 

Saturday morning he visited the United States Military Academy at West Point to deliver a commencement address.

But on his way home, the president was also asked about a claim made by a Russian commander that Putin’s helicopter almost got caught in the middle of a Ukrainian drone attack.

‘I haven’t heard that,’ Trump replied, speculating that ‘maybe that would be a reason’ for the deadly attack.

‘I don’t know, but I have not heard that,’ the president added. 

The latest attack marks the second large-scale assault on Ukraine in two nights, and the third in a week. 

Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that Russia had launched 69 ballistic and cruise missiles, along with 298 attack drones, with about two-thirds of the missiles and drones shot down. 

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said: ‘This was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again showed that its goal is fear and death.’ 

U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on Sunday the attack was ‘a clear violation’ of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols and called for an immediate ceasefire. 

The latest carnage adds to growing evidence that far from taking steps towards peace – as Trump has demanded – Putin is engaged in ever stronger attacks on Ukraine likely as a prelude to a major summer offensive seeking to grab new territory in on Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipro regions beginning next month.

Up to 50,000 Russian troops are being prepared for an advance, according to reports.