President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he was surprised by Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s escalation of attacks on Ukraine amid ongoing cease-fire talks, expressing his discontent with Putin’s actions.
“I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people. And I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters at the airport in New Jersey before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from New Jersey.
“We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all.”
Russia launched 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight into May 25, in what is believed to be its largest aerial attack since the war began in February 2022 in terms of the number of weapons used, leaving a dozen people dead.
The airstrike occurred just hours before the third and final prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, with both nations having exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in an effort to scale down the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately prolonging the war and called on the United States and European countries to impose further sanctions as a means to pressure Russia.
“Each such terrorist Russian strike is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy stated on social media platformX. “Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin. Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped.”
Trump also voiced his discontent with Putin’s actions on the Truth Social platform, warning that any actions to conquer the entirety of Ukraine would adversely affect Russia.
“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,” he said of the Russian leader.
Trump also said that Zelenskyy was not doing any favors for his country “by talking the way he does” and that he should stop.
U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg also condemned the Russian attacks as “shameful” and called for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine.
“The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents,” Kellogg stated in a social media post. “Stop the killing. Ceasefire now.”
The prisoners swap completes the third part of a deal signed last month, under which each side agreed to release 1,000 prisoners of war captured during the three-year war.
Zelenskyy stated on social media platform X that 303 prisoners were returned to Ukraine on May 25, including captured members of the armed forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and State Special Transport Service.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying that each country welcomed home 303 soldiers on May 25.
The first two phases of the deal involved the exchange of 307 prisoners from each side on May 24 and 390 prisoners from each side on May 23.
The Trump administration has been pushing for a cease-fire deal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said on April 30 that Putin remains open to a cease-fire and eventual peaceful settlement to the conflict but that there are still issues that need to be resolved.
Zelenskyy has said on X that Ukraine is ready to enter into a temporary cease-fire with Russia but added that Russia must first demonstrate its readiness to end the war, “starting with a full, unconditional ceasefire.” This would involve ending missile and drone strikes and halting offensive assaults along the front lines.
Jacob Burg and Reuters contributed to this report.
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