US president Donald Trump warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” in a social media post on Tuesday, as the US weighs whether to target Moscow with additional sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Trump’s comments came after Russian forces captured four villages in the northeastern Sumy region, according to the local governor.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Mr Trump wrote in a post to his Truth Social platform. “He’s playing with fire!”
Russia has in recent days escalated its aerial attacks against Ukraine, launching hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at targets across the country. The escalation came as Mr Trump urged officials from both countries to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in talks mediated by the Vatican.
The post came hours after CNN reported that Mr Trump could move ahead with new sanctions on Russia in the coming days, and that administration officials have drawn up options in recent weeks for the US to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
Mr Trump said on Sunday he would “absolutely” consider new sanctions, but has so far resisted efforts led by US Senate Republicans and European leaders to intensify measures against Russia.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is among Mr Trump’s biggest allies in the upper chamber, said in a Wall Street Journal oped published on Tuesday that he had co-ordinated his legislative efforts on a Russia sanctions Bill with the White House.
“If Mr Putin continues to play games, the senate will act,” Mr Graham said. “I’m hoping for the best, but when it comes to the thug in Moscow, we should all prepare for more of the same.”
Reports of the capture of four villages in Sumy is the latest battlefield setback for Kyiv as it seeks to hold territory and avoid handing Moscow the advantage in any peace talks.
The Russian advances follow some of the biggest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since the full-scale war began in early 2022, although the level dropped markedly overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
Ukraine has also fired dozens of long-range drones into Russia in recent days, forcing some Moscow airports to close temporarily.
Russian air defences destroyed or intercepted 112 Ukrainian drones over a three-hour period on Tuesday, most of them over central or southern regions, the Russian defence ministry said.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said six Ukrainian drones were repelled while heading for the Russian capital. Recovery crews were examining fragments on the ground, he said.
Ukrainian forces used the Sumy region as a launch pad to seize a chunk of Russia’s neighbouring Kursk region last year before being largely driven out by April. The area has been pounded for months by Russian guided bombs and other strikes.
“The enemy is continuing attempts to advance with the aim of setting up a so-called ‘buffer zone’,” Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Facebook.
He said the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka had been occupied, adding that residents had long been evacuated.
[ The Irish Times view on the US and Ukraine: Trump’s intentions are far from clearOpens in new window ]
Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had taken the nearby village of Bilovody, implying a further advance.
While Russia’s offensive activity is concentrated in the eastern Donetsk region, Moscow’s inroads into northeastern Ukraine show it is stretching Kyiv’s forces on multiple fronts.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly warned that Russia is preparing new offensives against Sumy as well as the northeastern Kharkiv and southeastern Zaporizhzhia regions.
[ ‘Emotional overload’: Kremlin responds to Trump’s description of Putin as ‘crazy’Opens in new window ]
“There is much evidence that they are preparing new offensive operations. Russia is counting on further war,” he said on Monday, without elaborating. – Bloomberg/Reuters
