President Donald Trump said he was “absolutely” considering new sanctions against Russia as Ukraine said Moscow launched its largest drone barrage of the war during a third night of strikes.
Trump’s comments, made to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday came as he grows visibly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the state of talks meant to deliver a ceasefire in Ukraine. The US president has repeatedly threatened new sanctions in the past without following through.
“I’m not happy with what Putin is doing,” Trump said before Moscow’s latest barrage. “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.”
Trump in a Truth Social post later on Sunday said that Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”
“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!” Trump said after he returned to Washington.
The Kremlin on Monday said that Putin is acting to protect national security. Responding to Trump’s comments, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the start of talks between Ukraine and Russia means there’s “emotional overload of absolutely everyone and emotional reactions,” according to the Interfax news service.
The US president has so far failed to force Putin to the negotiating table as his deadline to end the conflict within the first 100 days of taking office came and went. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Trump thinks Russia will likely walk away from Ukraine peace talks if the US threatens more sanctions.
But Senate Republicans warned last week that they’re prepared to pass new economic penalties if Putin refuses to engage in truce talks or breaches an eventual agreement. The bill includes a 500% tariff on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products, natural gas or uranium, according to a draft of the bill seen by Bloomberg News.
Russia launched a record number of drones as well as nine cruise missiles at regions across the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the X social media platform Monday. That was the culmination of three consecutive nights of strikes. The Ukrainian leader said the attack left people injured and civilian infrastructure damaged.
Peskov said on Monday that the attacks were “retaliatory strikes” for Ukraine targeting civilian infrastructure. Last week, Kyiv targeted central Russia with drones nearly continuously for several days, a departure from earlier attacks that typically occurred overnight.
Andriy Yermak, an aide to Zelenskiy, said on his Telegram channel that “Moscow is stalling even the discussion of proposals — offering no specifics, only wasting time. The only way to make Moscow move faster is through sanctions and weapons.”
Russia must speed up its efforts to ceasefire. Right now, Moscow is stalling even the discussion of proposals—offering no specifics, only wasting time. The only way to make Moscow move faster is through sanctions and weapons.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) May 26, 2025
Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday at least 12 people were killed in the previous night of Russian airstrikes, prompting Zelenskiy to renew his call for more sanctions. The attacks coincided with a third day of prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine.
The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas described the latest strikes as “totally appalling” in her comments to reporters on Monday, adding that “Russia has increased its pressure on Ukraine.”
“We have seen the deadliest attacks so it’s up to us to put the pressure on Russia,” she said before a meeting of development ministers. “We are ready to do it on the European side, hoping other international partners will follow suit.”
Trump repeatedly questioned “what’s wrong” with Putin as he addressed reporters at the airport. “We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities,” he said. “I don’t like it at all.”
Trump blamed Zelenskiy, along with Putin and former US President Joe Biden, for the war.
“President Zelenskiy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does,” he said in the Truth Social post. “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
Russia said on Monday it repelled 96 drones overnight with some targeting Moscow and causing flight disruptions at major airports in the Russian capital region.
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR
Bloomberg
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
//console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 87 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
