Donald Trump news: US President ‘not happy’ with Vladimir Putin after rockets launched during peace talks

US President Donald Trump is considering new action against Russia, saying “I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” suggesting the Russian leader has changed and is not cooperating with Ukraine Peace talks.

Over the last weekend, Russia unleashed more aggression on Ukraine in an alarming escalation.

A barrage of 367 drones and missiles struck Ukrainian cities on Sunday, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.

Mr Trump addressed the conflict on Sunday.

“I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing,” Mr Trump said at Morristown Airport in New Jersey.

“He’s killing a lot of people.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people.

“I don’t like it at all.

“We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all.”

Mr Trump went on to say he was “absolutely” considered action against Russia, likely in the form of additional sanctions.

Mr Trump’s comments come after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised the United State’s silence over the latest escalation.

“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram.

“Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”

The latest attack was the largest attack of the war in terms of weapons fired, although other strikes have killed more people.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 12 people had been killed and 60 more wounded. Earlier death tolls given separately by regional authorities and rescuers had put the number of dead at 13.

“This was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again showed that its goal is fear and death,” he wrote on Telegram.

The assault comes as Ukraine and Russia prepared to conduct the third and final day of a prisoner swap in which both sides will exchange a total of 1000 people each.

US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on Sunday the attack was “a clear violation” of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Ukraine and its European allies have sought to push Moscow into signing a 30-day ceasefire as a first step to negotiating an end to the three-year war.

Their efforts suffered a blow earlier this week when Mr Trump declined to place further sanctions on Moscow for not agreeing to an immediate pause in fighting, as Kyiv had wanted.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in its overnight assault, although it said it was able to down 266 drones and 45 missiles.

Damage extended to a string of regional centres, including Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, as well as Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west. In Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said 11 people were injured in drone strikes.

No deaths were reported in the capital, although four were killed in the region around the city, according to officials.

This was the second large aerial attack in two days.

On Friday evening, Russia launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv in waves that continued through the night. In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said early on Sunday that drones hit three city districts and injured three people.

- with Reuters