Putin is playing with fire, says Trump
The US president heaped further criticism on the Russian leader after he launched the biggest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since the war began almost four years ago.
'What Vladimir Putin doesn't realise 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!' Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
A record number of Russian drones killed at least 13 people across Ukraine at the weekend, despite a prisoner exchange and the US pushing for a truce.
The rebuke from Mr Trump is the latest display of his apparent shifting attitude towards Putin.
On Monday, the US president called Vladimir Putin 'absolutely crazy' for his attacks on Ukrainian cities in some of his strongest criticism to date.
Credit: US Network Pool / Reuters
Mr Trump, who is growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of peace talks, could move ahead with new sanctions on Russia in the coming days.
Options were drawn up in the past several weeks to apply new measures punishing Moscow, but they have yet to be approved by Mr Trump in fear they could push Russia away from negotiations entirely, according to CNN.
In the aftermath of the missile and drone bombardment, the president said he would 'absolutely' consider new sanctions.
'He's killing a lot of people,' Mr Trump said of Putin. 'I don't know what's wrong with him. What the hell happened to him?'
Lawmakers are lobbying Mr Trump to ratchet up US sanctions after the weekend attacks. Spearheaded by republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the bill aims to impose 'crippling' measures on Moscow.
It would include massive secondary sanctions, aimed at countries who trade with Putin, including 500 per cent tariffs on those that buy Russian energy.
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