Three years, three months, and two days after the start of the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump has discovered that Vladimir Putin is killing many people, many civilians, and aims to take over the entire country. An idea that "will lead to the fall of Russia."
"I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone completely CRAZY! He is unnecessarily killing a lot of people, and I am not just referring to soldiers. They are firing missiles and drones at cities in Ukraine for no reason. 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!!" the president wrote this Sunday on his social media, visibly irritated by the images of brutal bombings.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone six days ago, on Monday morning. The U.S. president, who has insulted, humiliated, and punished Ukrainians time and time again, once again failed to achieve a ceasefire with the Russian president, and yet celebrated Putin's delays as a diplomatic success. The Kremlin not only avoided committing and boycotted a high-level meeting in Istanbul, but completely changed the narrative, saying that instead of a ceasefire to achieve a total peace agreement, as Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky want or accept, he wants a total agreement, under his demands, before stopping the invasion, the shootings, the attacks. And as a sign that he is not affected in the least by what the international community says, this week he has ordered some of the most savage bombings since 2022.
Trump, who has praised, sympathized with, and defended Putin for a decade, is not happy. He promised during the election campaign to end the war on his first day in office, and four months later, we are no closer to achieving it. In fact, his team is already talking about stepping aside, in one of the strangest negotiating tactics of the contemporary age. Instead of putting pressure on the aggressor, he attacks the victim and says that if Moscow does not take things seriously... the United States will wash its hands of it. An incredible way to motivate the Kremlin to redouble its efforts.
This Sunday, however, Trump has raised the tone for the first time. Literally. From an airport in New Jersey, before returning to Washington, the president delivered his harshest words to date. Not only almost shouting, due to the noise of the helicopters, but visibly uncomfortable, even furious. "I am not happy with what Putin is doing. He is killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell is wrong with him. I have known him for a long time. I have always gotten along with him, but he is launching rockets at cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all," he stated today in front of the cameras. "I am surprised. I am very surprised. We will see what we do. I don't like what Putin is doing, not one bit. He is killing people. Something happened to this guy, and I don't like it," he insisted.
When asked if this time, after endless vague threats, he is willing to tighten the screws and impose new sanctions on Russia, Trump said "of course," but without going into details. Something he has been saying for weeks, months, but never follows through on.
"This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children during the night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols, designed to protect the innocent. These attacks are shameful. Ceasefire now," wrote General Keith Kellogg, White House special envoy for the war in Ukraine, a few hours earlier on his X account, accompanying his words with images of fires and destruction in the capital.
Hours later, back at the White House, Trump vented on his social media, also taking a swipe at the Ukrainian president, as is customary. "Likewise, President Zelensky is not doing his country any favors by speaking as he does. Everything he says causes problems; I don't like it, and he better stop. This is a war that would never have started if I had been president. This is Zelensky's, Putin's, and Biden's war, not Trump's. I am only helping to put out the big and horrible fires that have started due to blatant incompetence and hatred," he concluded in the traditional manner, putting the invader, the invaded, and his predecessor on the same level.