Russia on Monday fired a record number of drones into several of Ukraine’s regions amid President Trump’s recent criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s military launched 355 drones along with nine missiles late Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Ukraine said Monday morning that it has “neutralized” 288 drones and all of the missiles were shot down.
The drone attack came just a day after the Kremlin’s military launched the largest aerial attack of the war in Eastern Europe that has been ongoing for more than three years. Russia launched 298 drones and 69 missiles, targeting two dozen cities across Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United States, his allies in Europe and supporters of Ukraine around the world to strongly respond to the attack and exercise more pressure on Putin.
Trump, who has sought to end the largest land conflict in Europe since World War II, told reporters on Sunday that he is 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. 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. OK. We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all,” the president added, indicating that additional sanctions are on the table.
Trump followed up on Sunday, accusing Putin on social media of having gone “absolutely” crazy and warning the Russian leader that if he did not halt his military’s action, it would lead to a downfall of Moscow.
In the same post, Trump lit into Zelensky, arguing he is “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 Sunday night on Truth Social.
The Kremlin expressed gratitude to the United States “for their assistance in organizing and launching this negotiation process.”
But, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “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.”
