Trump criticism down to emotional overload: Kremlin
dpa
Moscow/Kiev
The Kremlin suggested on Monday that US President Donald Trump's harsh criticism of President Vladimir Putin is down to 'emotional overload,' amid uncertainty over the status of negotiations to try and end the war in Ukraine.
The prospect of negotiations is 'connected, of course, with emotional overload of absolutely everyone and with emotional reactions,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS.
He rejected Trump's criticism of the mass bombardment of Ukraine over the past three nights, arguing that Putin was 'making the decisions that are necessary to ensure the security of our country.' The intensive attacks on Ukraine prompted Trump to tell reporters on Sunday that he was 'not happy with what Putin is doing.' 'We're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities. I don't like it at all. And I'm surprised. I'm very surprised.' He followed up his comments with a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
'I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!' Trump wrote. On Monday, the opposition Russian portal Mediazona noted that the later statements by Trump were either not quoted or were abridged by state and state-affiliated media in Russia. Trump's critical words about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were reproduced in detail, however.
'Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don't like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President,' Trump wrote about Zelensky.
Peskov said on Monday that the time and venue for further talks with Ukraine had not yet been decided.
A memorandum in which Moscow intends to present its view on a possible conflict resolution has also not yet been handed over to the Ukrainians.
A week ago, Trump talked directly to both leaders, and announced afterwards that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would take place 'immediately.' These never transpired, however.
Representatives from the two sides held talks in Istanbul in mid-May, with no results apart from an exchange of prisoners.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said on Monday that Russia had attacked the country with a record number of drones overnight. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Moscow deployed 355 drones and drone dummies as well as nine X-101 cruise missiles. An air raid alert covered the whole country.
Zelensky described it as 'the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war' over three years ago. The 'third consecutive night of combined Russian terror ... Putin shows just how much he despises the world - the world that spends more effort on 'dialogue' with him than on real pressure,' he wrote on X. 'The increase in Russian strikes should be met with increased sanctions,' he added.
The military's figures cannot be verified in detail. All nine cruise missiles were shot down and 288 drones were destroyed, the air force said. Two people were injured in the Zaporizhzhya region, according to the local military governor Ivan Fedorov.
According to the air force, Russian drones attacked the port city of Odessa from the Black Sea.
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, military governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram that a series of powerful explosions were heard.
Authorities elsewhere confirmed damage had been caused in several other parts of the country. It was widely reported that one target was the Starokostiantyniv military airbase in western Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry wrote on Telegram that it had shot down 128 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory by late Monday morning.
Operations at several airports in Russia were temporarily restricted for security reasons. Moscow launched a massive attack on its neighbour over the weekend using drones, missiles and cruise missiles, killing more than a dozen people.
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