Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly showing signs of ignoring President Trump’s entreaties to work toward an end to the Ukraine war, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long warned.
Russia overnight launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks on Ukraine yet, killing at least a dozen people and injuring scores more.
Zelensky in posts on social media said nearly 300 attack drones had been launched by Russia overnight, as well as 70 millions of various types, including ballistic missiles.
Kyiv was attacked as part of the onslaught, as well as 11 other regions, Zelensky said.
“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities. Ordinary residential buildings were destroyed and damaged. In Kyiv, dormitories of the university’s history department were hit,” he said. “There were also strikes on enterprises. Tragically, people were killed, including children.”
Zelensky, who Trump memorably chewed out in an Oval Office meeting in February, said the new strikes were a justification of new sanctions on Russia, which he accessed of dragging out the war.
“The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored,” said Zelensky, who argued that “silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.”
Trump vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war during last year’s campaign but has had little success in doing so.
The new assault by Russia comes after diplomatic efforts by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to push Putin toward the negotiating table.
Rubio earlier this month said peace would only be possible after a Putin and Trump phone call, essentially saying lower-level negotiators could do little without a push from Putin.
On Monday, Trump held a two-hour call with Putin, and later spoke with Zelensky. After the call, he said Kyiv and Moscow needed to discuss a peace plan, effectively backing away from his previous calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Trump has outlined a global sanctions regime in which Russia’s crucial oil exports are cut off, by imposing penalties on both Russia and its key trading partners. Following the calls on Monday, he told reporters he remained optimistic that Putin would come around to peace.
“I think he’s had enough. It’s been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years,” Trump said. He added that Putin was having trouble “extraditing” himself from the war, echoing comments from Vice President Vance heading into the discussion.
“I’m not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war,” Vance told reporters on Air Force Two.
Other observers might argue that Putin has little interest in ending the war.
At times it also has appeared that Putin is calling Trump’s bluff by concluding that the U.S. president will not follow through on threats of sanctions against Russia.
Zelensky, for his part, said Sunday there would be little progress unless Trump truly followed up with efforts to pressure Russia.
“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now – the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace,” he wrote. “The world knows all the weaknesses of the Russian economy. The war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war.”
Trump envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellog condemned the violence in a post on X on Sunday, though his statement did not explicitly single out Russia or Putin for blame.
“This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now,” Kellog wrote.
