US President Donald Trump has suggested that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is “playing with fire,” without elaborating on what exactly he means. In recent days, Trump has increasingly criticized the Kremlin over what he perceives as a lack of progress in peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. 

Last week, Trump and Putin held a telephone conversation during which they discussed the prospects of a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Both leaders characterized the call as productive. 

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump claimed that “if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD.” 

The US president added that Putin is “playing with fire!” 

Later in the day, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce emphasized that Trump’s remark was not a sign of the US president’s “frustration,” but that he is just being “transparent about his opinion.” 

“I think this is what Russia should take seriously; Americans certainly do,” she added. 

Bruce further emphasized that Washington continues to favor “direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in response to Trump's latest remark, said on X that he only knows “of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII.” 

“I hope Trump understands this!” the official, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, added. 

In a post on Sunday, Trump also criticized Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, claiming that the Russian president had “gone absolutely CRAZY” and alleging that he had targeted the neighboring country with recent strikes “for no reason whatsoever.”

However, Trump also stated that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does.” 

Moscow has stressed that it was carrying out strikes on Ukrainian military-linked installations in response to Kiev’s attempts to launch drone raids on civilian facilities in Russia. 

Over the past week alone, Russian air defenses have downed 1,465 Ukrainian drones over areas outside the active conflict zone, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Tuesday. 

According to the military, “the Kiev regime, supported by certain European countries, has taken a number of provocative steps aimed at disrupting the negotiation process.” There has been a considerable increase in Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, involving drones as well as Western-made missiles since the start of May, it added.

Russian forces retaliated with high-precision missile and drone strikes aimed “exclusively at Ukraine’s military and defense industrial facilities,” the ministry said. 

On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov chalked Trump’s harsh rhetoric up to “emotional overload” experienced by the US president in light of the very complicated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that have gotten underway.

https://www.rt.com/news/618230-trump-putin-playing-with-fire/

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