Trump claims that as Russia gains ground in Ukraine, Putin is “playing with fire”

Russian military advanced in the northeast of Ukraine on Tuesday, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to call Vladimir Putin “playing with fire” for refusing to hold peace negotiations with Kyiv.

Trump has become increasingly irate with the Russian president due to Moscow’s failure to advance ceasefire attempts and its use of some of the worst drone and missile attacks in the three-year-old conflict against Ukraine.

What Vladimir Putin fails to understand is that if it weren’t for me, Russia would have already experienced a number of extremely negative events—I mean, extremely negative. Trump stated in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that “he’s playing with fire.”

The self-assured president did not provide further details about his cordial relationship with Putin. Dmitry Medvedev, the top Russian security official, brushed aside Trump’s accusations.

In reference to Trump’s remarks that Putin was “playing with fire” and that “really bad things” were occurring in Russia. WWIII is the only VERY AWFUL thing I am aware of. I hope Trump is aware of this. In English, Medvedev posted on the social media site X.

Trump claimed in a post on Sunday that Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY” by attacking Ukraine from the air.

Putin stated that Russia was prepared to collaborate with Ukraine on a memorandum for a future peace agreement following a two-hour phone conversation with Trump last week.

According to the Russian leader, identifying a potential ceasefire and its duration would be a component of this effort. Putin has been pushed by Ukraine, its European allies, and the United States to agree to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire that lasts for at least 30 days.

According to the Kremlin, it is still working on the memorandum and has not been able to predict how long it would take to draft. While it advances on the battlefield, Moscow has been accused by Kyiv and European nations of stalling.

A COMPILATION OF FOUR SUMY VILLAGES

As Russian forces captured four towns in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy area on Tuesday, Kyiv suffered yet another battlefield setback, coinciding with Trump’s social media tirade.

Trump has so far refrained from imposing significant new penalties on Russia, but according to U.S. officials, a set of sanctions is ready if he does. Additionally, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, is pressuring Trump to provide Ukraine with more military aid.

The Russian gains come after some of the most significant drone and missile strikes on Ukraine since Russia started the full-scale conflict in early 2022, albeit the level significantly decreased between Monday and Tuesday.

Several Moscow airports have had to temporarily close as a result of Ukraine firing hundreds of long-range drones into Russia in recent days.

Although the inhabitants had long since been evacuated, Sumy Governor Oleh Hryhorov stated on Facebook that Russia had taken over the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka, and Zhuravka.

In an indication of a further breakthrough in the more than three-year conflict, Russia’s defense ministry announced Monday that it had captured the nearby settlement of Bilovody.

Russian troops have been attempting to enter the Sumy area, whose largest city is fewer than 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border, according to Ukrainian officials for weeks.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s border guard service said Russian personnel have been expanding the region in which they have been conducting attacks, riding motorcycles in small groups and using drones for backup.

Last year, Ukrainian forces took control of a portion of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region using the Sumy region as a base of operations. By April, they had mostly been forced out. Russian guided bombs and other airstrikes have been bombarding the region for months.

On Facebook, Hryhorov stated, “The enemy is moving forward in an effort to establish a so-called ‘buffer zone’.”

When Putin visited the Kursk region in March, he reiterated his request that his troops think about creating a “buffer zone” along Russia’s border.

BRAND NEW OFFENSIVES

Although the eastern Donetsk region is the focus of Russia’s offensive activities, Moscow’s incursions into northeastern Ukraine demonstrate how it is putting Kyiv’s forces under pressure on several fronts.

Zelenskiy has issued many warnings that Russia is planning fresh offensives on Sumy, the northeastern Kharkiv region, and the southeast region of Zaporizhzhia.

“They are preparing new offensive operations, according to a lot of evidence. Without providing any further details, he stated on Monday that Russia is counting for more fighting.