Trump-Putin Rift Widens Over Ukraine Amid Diplomatic Failure to End War

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump has censured his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after Moscow launched a large aerial attack on Ukraine, highlighting Washington’s failure to end the conflict as the American leader had boasted he would end the war within 24 hours.

Trump has been trying to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire over the three-year-old war in Ukraine. He spoke for more than two hours with Putin last week and said he believed the call had gone “very well.”

On Sunday, Russia fired a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev.

Trump warned that he would impose more sanctions on Russia if the war continues and Putin does not come to the negotiation table.

The US president also lambasted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying, “He is doing his country no favors by talking the way he does."

"Everything out of his mouth causes problems. I don’t like it, and it better stop,” he continued.

Trump’s comments came amid an escalation in fighting between Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow accusing Kiev of launching hundreds of drones between Tuesday and Friday.

One strike took place during a visit by Putin to Kursk Region, where his helicopter “was at the epicenter” of a Ukrainian drone assault, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

On February 28, Trump, and Zelensky engaged in a heated discussion in the Oval Office, which was filmed for the world to see. The pair clashed when discussing efforts for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.

Since then, the three counties have engaged in several rounds of negotiations.

During the latest round in Turkey on May 16, each country agreed to release 1,000 prisoners of war, the largest swap of the war so far.

The countries’ respective leaders were absent from the talks after Putin rejected Zelensky’s offer for an in-person negotiation and did not accompany the Russian delegation to Turkey.

After the negotiations in Turkey, Ukraine tentatively agreed to a 30-day ceasefire while Putin  said Russia will work with Ukraine to craft a "memorandum" on a "possible future peace."

Aside from a major prisoner-of-war swap last week, there has been little or no progress on bringing the war to an end.