Russia dismisses Trump's Putin criticism as 'emotional' reaction

Henry Meyer, Bloomberg News on May 26, 2025

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The Kremlin Monday brushed aside President Donald Trump’s criticism of Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as an “emotional reaction” and defended the deadly campaign of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine.

“The beginning of the negotiation process, for which the American side made great efforts, is a very important achievement, and we are truly grateful to the Americans, to President Trump,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state-run Tass news service.

“At the same time, this is a very important moment, which is associated, of course, with an emotional overload of absolutely everyone and emotional reactions,” Peskov added.

Trump on Sunday said that he was “absolutely” considering new sanctions against Russia and called Putin “absolutely CRAZY!” for “needlessly killing a lot of people” with drone and missile attacks.

The U.S. leader’s comments came as he grows visibly frustrated with the state of Ukraine ceasefire talks, but the Kremlin’s reaction gave no sign Putin is ready to drop his resistance to a truce in Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Instead, the Russian leader has stuck to maximalist demands on Kyiv for ending his invasion, which is now in its fourth year.

Putin is due to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later on Monday, according to the Kremlin. Turkey hosted talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month at which Moscow rejected a 30-day ceasefire.

Russia launched a record number of drones as well as nine cruise missiles at regions across the country overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the X social media platform Monday. The Ukrainian leader said the attack left people injured and civilian infrastructure damaged.

That was the culmination of three consecutive nights of strikes. Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday at least 12 people were killed in the previous night, prompting Zelenskyy to renew his call for more sanctions. The attacks coincided with a third day of prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine.

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas described the latest strikes as “totally appalling” in her comments to reporters on Monday, adding that “it’s up to us to put the pressure on Russia.”

Peskov said on Monday that the attacks were “retaliatory strikes” for Ukraine targeting civilian infrastructure. Last week, Kyiv targeted central Russia with drones nearly continuously for several days, a departure from earlier attacks that typically occurred overnight.

Russia said on Monday it repelled 96 drones overnight with some targeting Moscow and causing flight disruptions at major airports in the Russian capital region.

Trump also lashed out at Zelenskyy in the same social media in which he criticized Putin.

“President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does,” he said in the Truth Social post. “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”