Ukraine Update Day 1,074…Is Putin Stuck?…Is Trump Frustrated and Embarrassed?

One could think that….

Putin position that he wants to conquer ALL of Ukraine IS UnReasonable….

He has actually pushed more countries INTO NATO …..

He has also pushed NATO CLOSER together…

He has also actually embarrassed Donald Trump, who wants to BADLY be his Buddy….

 

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does” while Russian President Vladimir Putin has “gone absolutely CRAZY”, Donald Trump said in his latest comments about the conflict. In a post on Truth Social, the US leader said “Everything out of his [Zelenskyy’s] mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.” He also claimed that “something has happened to” Putin and that if he took all of Ukraine it would lead to “the downfall of Russia”. “He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”

• Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey, shortly before the post went online, Trump also said “I’m not happy with Putin.” Asked if he was considering more sanctions on Russia, Trump replied: “Absolutely.”

• The comments came after Zelenskyy criticised the US for not saying anything after Russia carried out its largest air raid in three years of the war. “The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” Ukraine’s president wrote on Telegram. “Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”

• Keith Kellogg, the US’s special envoy for Ukraine, condemned the attacks but without any mention of Russia or Putin. “The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva peace protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now,” he wrote on X.

• Interior minister Ihor Klymenko said 12 people had been killed and 60 more wounded in the wave of drone and ballistic missile strikes on Saturday night into Sunday, the second consecutive night of heavy attacks across the country. Earlier death tolls given separately by regional authorities and rescuers had put the number of dead at 13. Ukrainian officials confirmed Moscow had launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in multiple waves.

• The latest attacks should be met with additional western sanctions, Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday. “Putin is not interested in peace, he wants to continue this war, and we must not allow this, which is why the European Union will agree additional sanctions,” he said in a live interview on ARD’s Bericht aus Berlin.

• The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also called for “the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war”. She said on X: “Last night’s attacks again show Russia bent on more suffering and the annihilation of Ukraine. Devastating to see children among innocent victims harmed and killed … We need the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war.”

• The attacks came as the two countries completed their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners exchanged by each side. Images of the release, which the two sides agreed on in Istanbul just over a week ago, showed returned prisoners with shaved heads, many wrapped in flags, being reunited with loved ones in Ukraine. The exchange was the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians.

• The Netherlands will send the last one of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine on Monday, defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Sunday on a Dutch television talkshow. The first 23 Dutch F-16 jets were delivered from last summer. The Netherlands has also provided fighter jets to a training centre in Romania for Ukrainian pilots and crew…..

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ISW..Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 26, 2025

• Russian forces conducted one of their largest drone and missile strikes of the war against Ukraine on the night of May 25 to 26, after three nights of record strikes. The May 25-26 strike is now the second largest combined strike of the war, after Russian forces conducted the largest combined strike on the night of May 24 to 25.
• Russia’s increased missile stockpiling, drone production, and drone adaptations demonstrate Russia’s commitment to achieving its war goals through military means in a protracted war in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian intelligence continues to assess that the Kremlin is committed to its war aim of achieving complete Ukrainian capitulation and is preparing for a potential future conflict with NATO — in line with ISW’s assessments.
• Ukrainian intelligence also assessed that Russia is facing a number of critical constraints in its economy and on the battlefield — in line with ISW’s ongoing assessments.
• Russia’s own defense industrial production limitations are pushing Russia to rely on its allies and partners and to find cheap solutions to adapt to Ukraine’s drone and counter-drone capabilities.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent demand for Russian forces to create a “buffer zone” along the Russia-Ukraine international border, in addition to Russia’s ongoing efforts to seize the remainder of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts, ignores Russia’s constraints and underscores Putin’s intention to increase his territorial demands.
• Ukrainian forces conducted a series of drone strikes against Russian defense industrial enterprises in the Republic of Tatarstan and Ivanovo and Tula oblasts on May 25 and 26.
• The Kremlin’s ongoing cognitive warfare effort aimed at preventing future Western military assistance to Ukraine is rooted in fear and the acknowledgement that Russia’s only real hope in defeating Ukraine is by isolating Ukraine from its allies.
• Russian forces recently advanced in Sumy Oblast and near Vovchansk, Lyman, and Toretsk.

Daily Kos grunt report for Today….

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Russia responds to Trump’s criticism of Putin: There is ’emotional overload’ right now

The Kremlin responded Monday to President Trump’s criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing “emotional overload” at this “very important moment.”

“We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organizing and launching this negotiation process,” said Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov when asked about Trump’s remarks, according to Reuters.

“Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”

The comments come after the American president has lashed out at Putin in recent days, a noticeable shift in tone that many have interpreted as a sign Trump is losing his patience with the Russian leader amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“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 Sunday night on Truth Social.

Earlier that day, the president said he was “not happy” with his Russian counterpart as he prepared to board Air Force One.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters…..

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Germany’s Merz says there are no more range restrictions on the weapons supplied to Ukraine

Germany’s new chancellor said Monday that his country and other major allies are no longer imposing any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

Friedrich Merz has plunged into diplomatic efforts to try to secure a ceasefire and keep Western support for Ukraine intact since becoming Germany’s leader nearly three weeks ago….

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