President Trump blasted Vladimir Putin on Thursday and urged the Russian president to “STOP!” after Moscow launched its deadliest attack on Ukraine in almost a year overnight.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,” Trump raged in a Truth Social post.
“Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
His rare criticism of Putin came soon after Russia struck Kyiv with an hours-long barrage of missiles and drones — killing at least nine and wounding more than 70.
He also pointed out that Russia has continued to rebuke Trump’s cease-fire proposal for a month and a half.
“This was a proposal from the United States,” he said. “And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people and evading tough pressure and accountability for its actions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the attack, which is the deadliest there since last July, as “one of the most outrageous.”
Despite this, Trump on Wednesday questioned Kyiv’s readiness to reach a peace deal, claiming without proof that Moscow was “ready” to end its war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said he didn’t know if a peace deal would be signed “by the end of the week” as Trump had hoped, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“I’m hopeful that we can get to something quickly,” he said. “And I remain hopeful that we can get something done because this is a terrible war and it needs to end.”
However, he noted that the Trump administration may not be able to solve the conflict, after all.
“We have a better understanding of (the Russian position) now — because we’ve actually spoken to them after three years of not speaking to them — what is the Ukrainian position, and figure out, ‘are these guys even in the same neighborhood because of their completely different zip codes?’” he said.
He still expressed hope that “we can be successful, but ultimately it’s not up to us.”
“It’s up to Russia, and it’s up to Ukraine,” he said. “They have to make the decision that they’re willing to move closer to one another, and we need to start to see progress.”
