A Kremlin spokesperson has responded to President Donald Trump’s rage post against Russian President Vladimir Putin by calling Trump’s comments the result of “emotional overload.”
Hours after a massive Russian attack killed 12 people and injured nearly 80 others in Ukraine, Trump unloaded on Putin to reporters in New Jersey and then again shortly afterward in a social media tirade.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” he wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. 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!”
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Asked about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia was grateful to Trump and the U.S. for facilitating negotiations with Ukraine.
“This is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions,” he added.
For months, Russia has been going around in circles on the topic of negotiating an end to its invasion of Ukraine. In March, the Trump administration called on Russia and Ukraine to accept a 30-day ceasefire, only for Kyiv to agree and Moscow to refuse.
Earlier this month, Trump gave Europe his blessing to impose a crushing new round of sanctions on Russia, leading Putin to promise he was ready for serious, direct peace talks with Ukraine.
Putin had suggested he would personally attend the talks, which took place in Istanbul. But despite Trump promising to go if Putin showed up, the Russian president instead sent a low-level delegation that brought nothing to the table.
A few days later, on May 19, Trump and Putin had a two-hour call that ended with Russia agreeing to “start negotiations toward a ceasefire,” as Trump put it—in other words, agreeing to basically nothing.
The topic of sanctions reportedly didn’t come at all.
“This was not my war. This is not a war that would have happened if I were president,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office following his call with Putin. “Something’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, I just back away, and they’re going to have to keep going again.”
Since then, Russia has suggested it wouldn’t sign any agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the BBC reported.
Having seemingly won over Trump—who said he was handing over the negotiations to Pope Leo XIV—the Kremlin has now escalated its attacks, catching the president by surprise.
“We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey on Sunday.
Asked whether he was considering imposing more sanctions on Russia, Trump replied, “Absolutely. He’s killing a lot of people. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him, right?”
In the meantime, perhaps the attacks shouldn’t have come as such a shock to Trump. In late April, the president finally started to question whether Putin had been playing him all along.
