Russia launched its biggest drone barrage on Ukraine just hours after Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin “crazy” for the attacks.
The US president said on Truth Social on Sunday: “Something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely crazy. He is needlessly killing a lot of people.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump’s comment was a “very important moment… connected to an emotional overload of everyone involved” but added the Russian president was taking decisions “necessary for the security” of Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “only a sense of total impunity” could allow Russia to “carry out such strikes and continue increasing their scale”.
At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in Ukraine in the night between Saturday and Sunday after Russia fired 367 drones and missiles in what was the largest combined aerial attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion of February 2022.
Then, between Sunday evening and Monday morning, Russia launched 355 drones and nine cruise missiles against Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s air force. The Ukrainian air force said it was the largest attack yet conducted with drones alone.
Sirens warning of incoming drones and missiles sounded again in many regions of Ukraine early on Monday. Several people were reported across the country bu regional authorities.
Peskov said the latest aerial assaults were a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s “social infrastructure”.
The Russian defence ministry said on Monday morning that air defence systems destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey late on Sunday, Trump said of Putin: “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.”
Asked about whether he was considering increasing US sanctions on Russia, Trump replied: “Absolutely.” The US president has repeatedly threatened to do this before – but is yet to implement any restrictions against Moscow.
Trump posted his “crazy” remark shortly afterwards, adding on Truth Social: “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!”
But the US president also had strong words for Zelensky, saying that he was “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 of Zelensky.
Despite Kyiv’s European allies preparing further sanctions for Russia, the US has said it will either continue trying to broker these peace talks, or “walk away” if progress does not follow.
Peskov said on Monday that Russia was “truly grateful” to the Americans and “personally to President Trump” for their help in organising and launching this negotiation process.
Last week, Trump and Putin had a two-hour phone call to discuss a US-proposed ceasefire deal to halt the fighting.
The US president said he believed the call had gone “very well”, adding that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start” negotiations toward a ceasefire and “an end to the war”.
Ukraine has publicly agreed to a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin has only said Russia will work with Ukraine to craft a “memorandum” on a “possible future peace” – a move described by Kyiv and its European allies as delaying tactics.
The first direct Ukrainian-Russian talks since 2022 were held on 16 May in Istanbul, Turkey.
Aside from a major prisoner of war swap last week, there was little or no progress on bringing a pause in fighting closer.
Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory. This includes Crimea – Ukraine’s southern peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
