Washington, 26 May

President Donald Trump made it clear he is losing patience with Vladimir Putin, levelling some of his sharpest criticism at the Russian leader as Moscow pounded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles for a third straight night.

“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.

Trump said 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 Zelenskyy as well, saying that he is “doing his Country no favours by talking the way he does.”

“Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don't like it, and it better stop,” Trump wrote on social media.

The 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 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 ”

A peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine remains elusive. Trump and Putin spoke on the phone this past week, and Trump announced after the call that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire talks. That conversation occurred after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks since 2022. But on Thursday, the Kremlin said no direct talks were scheduled.

The European Union has slapped new sanctions on Russia this month in response to Putin's refusal to agree to a ceasefire. But while Trump has threatened to step up sanctions and tariffs on Russia, he hasn't acted so far.