Trump: Russia, Ukraine ceasefire talks to begin ‘immediately’
President Donald Trump said after a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin that peace talks would begin “immediately” between Russia and Ukraine.
President Donald Trump expressed his bewilderment after Russia’s latest bombing of Ukraine, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “gone absolutely crazy.”
“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!” Trump said in a Truth Social post on May 25 about the Russian leader. “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 added that Putin is “needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers,” adding that “missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said. Trump has tried to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war in Ukraine, and spoke for more than two hours with Putin earlier this month.
Following the conversation, Trump said peace talks would begin “immediately” after his Russian counterpart refused to attend negotiations on May 15 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In his post on May 25, Trump also blamed Zelenskyy for the ongoing war, saying he was “doing his Country no favors 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 Truth Social.
This was not the first time Trump has blamed Zelenskyy for failing to prevent Russia’s invasion. Trump slammed Ukraine for the war in February before an Oval Office dispute with Zelenskyy that led to a breakdown in talks between the two countries.
“He’s always looking to purchase missiles,” Trump said of Zelenskyy in April. “When you start a war, you’ve got to know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”
In a conversation with reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump raised the possibility of imposing more sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing attacks.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY; Reuters
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal