Trump rift with Putin deepens as peace talks stall, sanctions loom

White House sources have said President Donald Trump’s patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin is growing thin as Putin has spurned U.S. pressure toward peace with Ukraine. 

The result could be an escalation of sanctions on Russia by the Trump administration.  

Top administration sources have said the Russian leader is “playing with fire” in refusing to negotiate a stop to the 39-month Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

“Putin is getting dangerously close to burning the golden bridge that Trump has set out before him,” said an administration official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to share details about the president’s current thinking, according to Politico.  

Trump later reinforced the sentiment, warning Putin that the United States’ waning support was still his best hope.  

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “He’s playing with fire.”  

The comments by the U.S. president came as Russia launched fresh attacks on Ukraine, even as the Trump administration was teasing breakthroughs in negotiations.  

The attacks caused Trump to label Putin “crazy.”

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” he told reporters on Sunday afternoon, just before boarding Air Force One and returning to Washington, reported the New York Times.   

Again, he later reiterated his comments with a post to Truth Social.  

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” Trump wrote. “He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers.”  

The U.S. president said that if Putin doesn’t reengage in peace talks or tries to take all of Ukraine “it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”   

His comments didn’t spare Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or former President Joe Biden for letting the war continue for three years or for failing to prevent it initially.

“Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop,” warned Trump.  

He then added, “This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.”  

Trump has said he’s considering a fresh round of sanctions for Russia.  

One key GOP figure from the U.S. Senate said Trump has no choice but to tighten sanctions on Russia after peace talks came up empty.  

“I believe President Trump was sincere when he thought his friendship w Putin wld end the war,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa on X. “Now that being the case ITS TIME FOR SANCTIONS STRONG ENUF SO PUTIN KNOWS ‘game over.’” 

Grassley later added Trump should take “decisive action” against Putin in the same way Trump punished Harvard.  

“Sanctions for Putin like no fed grants for Harvard,” said the senator.  

The potential collapse of peace talks and a fresh round of escalation in the war comes as both Russia and Ukraine allege atrocities by the other side.  

Russia claimed a coordinated drone attack by Ukraine targeting a helicopter carrying Putin, an attack that was reported by both Russian and Ukrainian media on May 25, according to India’s Firstpost.  

At the same time, the Associated Press is reporting accusations Ukrainian prisoners are being killed by torture or neglect while in prison in Russia and returned in body bags,  

Over 200 prisoners have been returned dead out of 24,000 soldiers and civilians captured during the war, according to National Public Radio, citing figures shared by the Ukrainian government.   

Previously, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Russia on new sanctions if no progress was made in peace talks.  

“If in fact it is clear that the Russians are not interested in a peace deal and they want to keep fighting a war, it may very well come to that point,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about ratcheting up sanctions on the former Soviet state.  

A group of 80 bipartisan Senators have reportedly signed on to a yet-to-be introduced bill that would impose fresh sanctions on Russia that would enjoy the support of GOP leaders and Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.  

Praising Trump’s quest for peace, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who sponsored the proposed sanctions, warned Putin in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal this time is different.  

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Graham said speaking about Trump, before adding, “The old playbook won’t work this time.”