US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the 27th of May, that Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russian forces made gains in north-eastern Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Trump, whose frustration is growing, strongly condemned the Russian president after Moscow attacked Ukraine with its heaviest strike in three years, while failing to push ahead with ceasefire talks.
“Vladimir Putin does not understand that if it were not for me, many very bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean, really BAD things. He is playing with fire,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
The president, who prides himself on his friendly relations with Putin, did not comment further. Trump has so far refrained from imposing major new sanctions on Russia, although US officials say a package of sanctions is in the pipeline if Trump decides to impose sanctions.
Russia’s top security official, Dmitry Medvedev, rejected Trump’s criticism.
“As for Trump’s remarks about Putin “playing with fire” and that “very bad things” would happen in Russia. I know of only one VERY BAD thing – World War III. I hope Trump understands that!” Medvedev wrote in English on X.
Trump said in a post on Sunday that Putin had “gone absolutely crazy” by launching a massive air strike on Ukraine.
Last week, after a two-hour conversation with Trump, Putin announced that Russia was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum for a future peace agreement. Ukraine, its European allies and the US have urged Putin to accept an immediate, unconditional ceasefire that would last at least 30 days.
The Kremlin has said it cannot estimate how long it will take to prepare the memorandum and said on Tuesday it was still working on it.
Four new villages captured
Kyiv and European governments have accused Moscow of dragging its feet on peace talks to make progress on the battlefield.Kyiv suffered another blow on the battlefield on Tuesday when Russian forces captured four villages in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region.
The Governor of Sumy, Oleh Hryhorov, wrote on Facebook that the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka were occupied by Russia, although the inhabitants had long been evacuated.
The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that it had taken the nearby village of Bilovody, which means that more progress has been made in the war that has lasted more than three years.
Ukrainian officials have claimed for several weeks that Russian troops are trying to take the Sumy region.
Russian forces have expanded the area they are targeting by attacking in small groups on motorcycles and by drone, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border guard service said.
Last year, Ukrainian forces used the Sumy region as a springboard to seize parts of the Kursk region, from which they had been largely driven out by April. Russia has been shelling the area for several months.
“The enemy continues to try to advance with the aim of establishing a so-called ‘buffer zone’,” Grikhorov wrote on Facebook.
In March, during a visit to the Kursk region, Putin repeatedly called on his troops to consider establishing a “buffer zone” along the Russian border.
Russia is mainly attacking eastern Ukraine, but is also pushing to the north-east, forcing Ukraine to defend itself on several fronts.
President Zelenskyy warned that Russia may launch new attacks in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya regions. “There is a lot of evidence that they are preparing new offensives,” he said on Monday.
Trump says Putin is “playing with fire” as Russia makes gains in Ukraine
