United States President Donald Trump has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killed at least 12 people and injured dozens.
Posting on Thursday on the Truth Social platform, which he owns, Trump wrote that the attacks were “not necessary” and “very” badly timed.
“Vladimir, Stop! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying,” the post said.
Trump’s direct appeal to Putin came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged his allies to put Russia under more pressure to halt its war, which began more than three years ago.
At a news conference in South Africa with its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, Zelenskyy said: “We do not see signs of the US putting strong pressure on Russia as part of its peace push. We believe that we can bring our sides closer with greater pressure on Russia.”
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mika Hanna said the message from Trump on Truth Social is a rare attempt to put some sort of pressure on Putin.
“But once again, Trump is using ‘Vladimir’ – what could be interpreted as an almost affectionate term – once again indicating the nature of his relationship with Putin as opposed to the nature of his relationship with the Ukrainian leader,” he said.
“Trump and his administration have in recent days and weeks been putting an immense amount of pressure on the Ukrainian leadership, basically saying that they have to give up territory in order to get a peace deal done,” Hanna noted.
“He has not applied the same pressure to the Russian leader, so there does appear to be a bias as the US attempts to broker a peace between the warring countries,” he added.
George Barros, an analyst at the US-based Institute for the Study of War, also thinks the US has various ways of exerting greater pressure on Putin if it chooses to do so.
“There are things the US can do to *make* Vladimir stop. Putin has vulnerabilities we are overlooking we are either overlooking or choosing not to leverage,” Barros said in a social media post.
“Putin is banking on the US letting Russia off the hook despite Russia’s own precarious position,” he added.
‘Windows breaking and doors falling out of their hinges’
The Ukrainian military said Russia used at least 11 Iskander ballistic missiles, 55 cruise missiles of several types and four guided bombs launched from tactical aircraft in its attack on Kyiv on Thursday.
It said at least 145 Iranian-designed Shahed drones and simulator drones of various types were also involved and the projectiles were launched from Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod and other Russian regions.
Olena Davydiuk, a 33-year-old lawyer in Kyiv, told the AFP news agency she saw windows breaking and doors “falling out of their hinges” during the barrage.
“People were being pulled out of the rubble. They said that there were dead people there too,” she added.
The Ukrainian army said seven of the ballistic missiles, 37 of the cruise missiles, all guided bombs and 64 drones were intercepted and 68 drone simulators fell without causing any damage.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said: “The strike objectives were achieved. All objects were hit.”
The ministry said Russian military operations on the front lines of the war, including in eastern Ukraine, killed hundreds of Ukrainian service members and destroyed dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles in the past day.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also accused the Ukrainian president of “wrecking” diplomacy aimed at reaching a peace deal amid conversations over the potential recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which the Trump administration has proposed.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Zelenskyy lacks the capacity to negotiate a deal, adding that continued EU weapons transfers to Ukraine encourage more conflict.
Europe also condemns Putin
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, however, wrote in a post on X that Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine are not a pursuit of peace but “a mockery of it”.
“The real obstacle is not Ukraine but Russia, whose war aims have not changed,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also said Putin needed to “stop lying” over wanting peace in Ukraine while continuing to strike the country.
“The only thing to do is for President Putin to finally stop lying,” Macron said during a visit to Madagascar on Thursday.
With Thursday’s attacks on Kyiv throwing yet more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a halt in fighting, Macron said Putin was the only person holding up the US-proposed and European-backed truce proposal.
“In Ukraine, they only want a single answer: Does President Putin agree to an unconditional ceasefire?” Macron said.
“If President Putin says yes, the weapons will fall silent tomorrow. Lives will be saved.”
