President Donald Trump on Thursday condemned Moscow’s deadly overnight attack on Kyiv, calling on Vladimir Putin to stop the killing, in a rare rebuke of his Russian counterpart.
The attack, which targeted at least five neighborhoods in the Ukrainian capital, killed at least 12 people and injured about 90, making it the deadliest assault on Kyiv since last summer, according to The Associated Press.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the attack as “not necessary” and ill-timed, while sending a direct message to Putin.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,” he wrote. “Vladimir, STOP!”
“Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” he continued.
The attack came hours after Trump said “Russia is ready” for peace as the Trump administration is pushing both sides to agree to end the three-year conflict.
“I think we have a deal with Russia,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We have to get a deal with Zelenskyy.”
“I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy. So far, it’s been harder,” he added.
Trump on Wednesday also condemned the wartime leader for outright refusing to cede Crimea to Russia as part of any potential peace plan.
“There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump described Zelenskyy’s words as “inflammatory” in a post on Truth Social.
“The statement made by Zelenskyy [on Wednesday] will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!” Trump said. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”
Trump’s tone echoed the words he used against the Ukrainian president during their infamous Oval Office clash earlier this year, when Trump accused him of “gambling with World War III.”