The United States and Russia quarrelled in public on Wednesday over the intensifying Ukraine war after US president Donald Trump warned that President Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” and Moscow massed 50,000 troops near a Ukrainian region.
While world leaders bicker over the prospects for peace, the deadliest conflict in Europe since the second World War is heating up fast: swarms of drones are being launched by both sides while Russia is advancing at key points along the front.
Mr Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said Mr Putin was playing with fire. “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire,” he said.
Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told a state TV reporter that Mr Trump’s remark suggested he was not well-briefed on the realities of the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was clear the Trump administration was making “considerable efforts towards a peaceful settlement” and that Russia was “grateful for the mediation efforts of President Trump personally”.
“Just like the United States, Russia has its own national interests, which are above all for us, and they are above all for our president,” Mr Peskov said.
After speaking to Mr Trump on May 19th, Mr Putin said he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum which would set out the contours of a peace accord including the timing of a ceasefire.
Mr Peskov said Russia was preparing for the next round of negotiations with Ukraine and to continue contacts with the United States.
But US state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Mr Trump was losing patience with Russia.
She said Mr Trump felt “something has happened” to Mr Putin, ”and he’s unable to explain it, and clearly he’s quite frustrated enough to express that outrage in public.”
With Mr Trump and the Kremlin trading barbs, the war intensified.
Russia said it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight while Ukraine said Russia had launched 88 drones and five ballistic missiles.
After Russia ejected Ukrainian forces from the western Kursk region, Moscow’s forces have pushed over the border into neighbouring Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine and taken several villages there.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had gathered 50,000 troops near the northern Sumy region, but added that Kyiv had taken steps to prevent Moscow from conducting a large-scale offensive there.
Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov said the US-led Nato military alliance was using the Ukrainian crisis to build up its presence across eastern Europe and the Baltic but that Russia was advancing along the entire front in Ukraine.
Mr Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.
Russia currently controls just under one fifth of Ukraine. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending. − Reuters
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