DONALD Trump has taken another swipe at Putin, warning that he is “playing with fire” as his frustration with the reckless Russian bubbles over.
Angry statements from the US president have surged recently as Russia has unleashed attacks on Ukraine and seems poised for a significant offensive.
In a Truth Social message, Trump fumed: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, many extremely bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD.”
“He’s playing with fire!”
Putin has been stalling peace negotiations for weeks and cranking up the heat in Ukraine rather than de-escalating – playing Trump for a fool.
Just today it was revealed that Vlad’s marauding forces had snatched another four villages in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
This was the area from which Ukraine launched its surprise invasion to take Russian land in Kursk, which Moscow only recently reclaimed.
Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote in a post: “The enemy is continuing attempts to advance with the aim of setting up a so-called buffer zone”.
He said the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka had been overrun and the resident evacuated.
Trump’s bash at Putin today was the latest in a series that charts his growing irritation.
Russia released a barrage of 367 drones and missiles targeting cities across Ukraine over the weekend – the most extensive of the war to date – leading Trump to label him “crazy”.
He said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that.”
And later posted online: “I’ve 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, and I’m not just talking about soldiers.
“Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
He added: “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!”
The Kremlin sought to lower the temperature – although hinted that Trump was merely being “emotional”.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organising and launching this negotiation process.
“Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”
At least 13 Ukrainians were killed in the weekend strikes, including three children.
Trump’s comments also come amid reports that Russia is amassing a 50,000-strong force on the border with Ukraine, in preparation for a renewed onslaught.
Putin is reportedly preparing for a major push to take more land in the north east.
Military analysts believe he is trying to press home his advantage and capture more Ukrainian land.
They warn that Putin only has a “four-month window” to get a breakthrough in Ukraine this year.
And this could be the beginning of Russia‘s summer offensive targeting the border city of Kharkiv – the “fortress” city of Ukraine which put up the maximum resistance at the start of the invasion.
Reacting to the reports, German Chancellor Freidrich Merz predicted that peace was still a long way off.
He said: “Wars typically end because of economic or military exhaustion on one side or on both sides and in this war we are obviously still far from reaching that [situation].
“So we may have to prepare for a longer duration.”
