President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his personal relationship with Vladimir Putin would allow him to communicate with the Russian president and bring peace to Ukraine.
But after Moscow’s escalation in kyiv during the weekend, Trump wrote that Putin has “absolutely crazy!”
“I have always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin de Russia, but something has happened to him,” Trump wrote in a publication on social networks on Sunday. For Tuesday, Trump warned that Putin was “playing with fire.”
The comments are the clearest signal of Trump’s growing frustration with Putin, but the question remains if it will take any punitive action against Russia or if it is making idle threats.
When asked on Wednesday what would be the consequences if Russia continues its intensified flood in Ukraine, Trump deviated.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you exactly. But words speak quite strong,” he said.
President Donald Trump calls questions from the press during a swear ceremony for the United States interim prosecutor for the Columbia district, Jeanine Pirro, at the White House in Washington, on May 28, 2025.
Leah Millis/Reuters
Trump was asked on Sunday if he would consider imposing new sanctions on Russia. The president said “absolutely.”
The Kremlin replied that Trump’s criticism to Putin were an “emotional reaction” and that he did not “completely understand” his military motives.
“Putin’s intention has been obvious. He has declared him again and again. He has acted accordingly. It is certain that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation,” said William Taylor, former American ambassador to Ukraine who currently serves as a senior member in the Atlantic Council. “He is not a friend of the United States. And this has been clear for a long time. He has been able to play and overcome President Trump.”
“I think President Trump is recognizing that reality,” Taylor told ABC News. “That Putin is not his friend. That Putin is attacking Ukraine in a record number of missiles and drones just after talking to Trump. This is not a serious negotiator. Putin is clearly not interested in stopping this war.”
Trump continued to say on Wednesday that he was “disappointed” and “not happy” with Russia’s attack towards Ukraine.
“Trump’s comments will not necessarily affect the posture that any of the parties adopts in these conversations: Ukrainians will transmit maximum flexibility, while Russians will emphasize the concessions they expect to do kyiv. Where you could see that a change is in the attitude of the United States towards new sanctions or the new help to Ukraine,” said Stephen Sestovich, a member of the foreign consciousness that served In the Council of Foreign Relations that served as the state department of the Ambassora, of the Ambassora, of the Antigua Soatge.
President Donald Trump in Washington, on May 12, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Krasnodar region, Russia, May 19, 2025.
EPA-EFE/Shuttersock
Trump had promised to end the war on day 1 in office, a promise that later said it was hyperbolic.
It has been the subject of great scrutiny for making public demands of Ukraine, included that renounces the objective of NATO membership and possibly granting some territory obtained by Putin’s forces, without doing the same with Russia.
A one -hour telephone call between Trump and Putin last week did not show important advances. Putin said he was ready to work in a “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement”, but that he showed no signs of making concessions.
Trump had said after that so -called direct conversations between Ukraine and Russia would begin immediately and would possibly be held in the Vatican. Russia then rejected the Vatican as a place.
The retired general Keith Kellogg, a special presidential sent from Trump for Ukraine, told Fox News this week that the new Russia-Ukraine conversations could take place in Geneva, perhaps involving Trump, Putin and Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the “memorandum” mentioned by Putin, Kellogg said that Ukraine has given his version of the document and “now we need to obtain the same as Russia.”
Trump said Wednesday that he would sit with Putin and Zelenskyy “if necessary.” When asked if he still believed that Putin really wanted to finish the war, Trump dodged.
“I can’t tell you that,” Trump said. “But I will let you know in about two weeks. In two weeks. We are going to find out very soon. We will discover if it is taking advantage of us or not. And if it is, we will respond a little different. But it will take approximately a week and a half, two weeks.”
Trump made similar comments in April wondering if Putin was “hitting” the United States, and warned that they would take another tactic if so, although nothing has changed substantially since then.
“Trying to read Putin’s mind is a risky business, but at this time it seems to think that it can pretend to negotiate without limiting its military attacks and that Trump will expect new sanctions or new weapons,” said Sestovich. “If Trump believes that Putin’s approach shows considerable respect for him, well, he is right.”
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, performs a video address for staff, veterans and civil personnel of the Border Guard of the Federal Security Service on the day of the border guards in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 28, 2025.
Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik through AP
Trump’s threat of additional sanctions is one that he has done before, although he has not yet implemented them and did not join European countries when they announced their own sanctions package against Russia last week.
On Wednesday, Trump was asked what he imposed to impose new sanctions.
“Just the fact that if I think I’m close to getting a deal, I don’t want to ruin it by doing that. Let me tell you that I am much harder than the people you are talking about,” Trump told journalists.
There is a growing support for economic pressure on Russia among Republicans. In the Senate, a project of the Republican of South Carolina Lindsey Graham that would impose sanctions to the countries that buy Russian energy has more than 80 copatrocinadores.
“This is not the time of more ‘Vladimir Stop’. This is not the time for questions of concern to be angry.” Now is the time, if President Trump is serious, and I think he takes the end of this war seriously, now is the time to take action. “
However, last week, after talking to Putin, Trump floated that he could “go back” to conversations completely, and leave Putin and Zelenskyy to solve things for themselves.
Such movement would be a victory for the Russian leader, analysts say.
“That said, I do not believe that President Trump and the administration leave because this has been the highest priority since before the elections and for President Trump to throw his hands, essentially give up and renounce President Putin, it would be an admission of defeat, admission of loss, he would give President Putin a great victory and it would be a stain in President Trump,” Taylor said.
