Trump admits protecting Putin over Ukraine: 'He's playing with fire!'

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on May 27, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday he’s been protecting Vladimir Putin over the Russian strongman’s refusal to end — or even scale back — the war in Ukraine.

After seeing his pleas for peace talks or a ceasefire go unanswered for months, Trump conceded that he’s defended Putin in discussions over what to do next about Russia’s new attacks in Ukraine.

“If it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “And I mean really bad.”

Despite the telling admission, Trump inferred he may soon shift course and impose some cost on Putin for continuing the invasion by Russia of its smaller neighbor.

“He’s playing with fire,” Trump exclaimed, without elaborating.

Top Putin aide Dmitry Medvedev fired back at Trump, warning that “I only know of one bad thing — WW III.”

But the pro-Kremlin RT News channel chose to mock Trump’s tough guy act, noting that he has repeatedly backed down after making previous threats to Putin and on trade.

“Trump’s message leaves little room for misinterpretation,” the channel tweeted. “Until he posts the opposite tomorrow morning.”

Putin has shrugged off several previous outbursts from Trump, including branding the U.S. president’s recent call for an end to “crazy” airstrikes an “emotional reaction.”

Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine on the campaign trail, but so far has seen little to no progress toward that goal since taking office four months ago.

He says he believes Putin wants to end the war, but the strategy of mostly taking Russia’s side appears to have backfired by giving Putin little reason to make concessions.

Trump conceded to Russia’s demands that Ukraine be permanently barred from joining NATO and must give up Russian-occupied lands including the Crimea.

He hasn’t appeared to get anything in return from Putin. Instead, the Russians seem confident they can win more ground on the battlefield and eventually get a better deal when or if they decide to end the war they launched when they invaded their sovereign neighbor in 2022.

Months ago, Trump demanded that both sides accept his unilateral call for a ceasefire. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed, but Putin snubbed Trump and has stubbornly refused to end the fighting. Russia has instead escalated attacks on the front lines in occupied Ukraine and on civilian targets in Kyiv and other cities.

Despite Putin’s recalcitrance, Trump has refused to make him pay any price for ignoring his pleas. Trump continues to laud Russia as a potentially lucrative trading partner and says he hopes to hold a face-to-face summit soon, effectively sending mixed messages to the Kremlin.

_____