Donald Trump has said he is ‘not happy’ that Vladimir Putin launched a deadly barrage of missile strikes on Kyiv overnight after talks to reach a peace deal failed.
‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,’ he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump urged his Russian counterpart: ‘Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!’
Russia attacked Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones overnight, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 70 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since last July and just as peace efforts are coming to a head.
Trump’s frustration with Putin is growing as a US-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that the large-scale missile attack on Kyiv was designed to put ‘pressure’ on the United States.
He noted that Ukraine had agreed to a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Moscow’s attacks had continued.
Zelensky also insisted that Kyiv would not change its position on Crimea, after Trump criticised him for not agreeing to cede the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.