US President Donald Trump on Sunday declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “gone absolutely CRAZY” as Moscow launched its largest aerial assault of the war on Ukraine, a barrage of 367 drones and missiles that killed at least 12 civilians, including children. Trump’s harsh words – echoed in interviews and on social media – represent one of his sharpest rebukes of the Russian leader, even as he also blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for stoking tensions.“Something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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!”Trump didn’t hold back during his remarks on the Morristown, New Jersey airport tarmac. “He’s killing a lot of people. I don’t know what the hell happened to him, right? He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he added. But he also lambasted Zelenskyy for “talking the way he does” and “causing problems.”Trump’s crossfireEven as he castigated Putin, Trump had barbs for Ukraine’s Zelenskyy too, saying he was “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does.” Trump’s allies argue he’s trying to push both sides to the table. But his public scolding of Zelenskyy as “causing problems” has muddied America’s stance, leaving Ukraine anxious about its most powerful backer’s resolve.The New York Times described Trump’s diplomacy as a “theatrical performance that has nothing to do with the reality of trenches or bomb shelters.” Ukrainians, battered and exhausted, are no longer waiting for miracles from the outside. “America and Russia are playing a dirty and bloody game,” Liliia Zambrovska, a pharmacist in Dnipro, told the NYT. “Our future belongs to us alone.”‘Emotional overload’The Kremlin on Monday suggested that Trump’s comment on Putin might be a reaction to emotional strain. At the same time, they thanked the US president for helping to kickstart peace negotiations in Ukraine.“We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organising and launching this negotiation process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about Trump’s comment on Putin.“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 question of sanityPutin’s decision to unleash the largest aerial attack of the war – using 298 drones and 69 missiles in a single night – is a show of force but also a sign of Russia’s reliance on brute tactics. Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russia plans to ramp up drone production to 500 a day, intensifying fears that the war’s bloodshed is nowhere near its peak.Amid this carnage, Trump’s diagnosis of Putin as “crazy” taps into a long-running debate in Washington and European capitals. Some see in Putin’s increasingly violent tactics and rhetoric signs of a leader disconnected from reality – and willing to risk everything. Former US officials and analysts point to the Russian leader’s increasingly erratic statements, including his insistence that he’s fighting Nato and that the West wants to break up Russia itself.Bloomberg’s battlefield data show Russia’s military has advanced only incrementally this year, taking a fraction of territory at enormous cost. A year ago, Russia was clawing forward at about 125 square kilometers a week. This spring, that pace has plummeted to 41. The Economist, in a blistering dispatch, called the aerial blitz a sign that Russia is “raining hellfire” to break Ukraine’s will. But it also warned that even as the drone and missile barrages grow, Russia’s ground war is stalling.For some, this gap between Putin’s violent ambition and his army’s grinding reality is a sign of a leader unmoored from reality – or at least from any reasonable calculus of gain and loss.
Putin has been an ineffective and cautious war leader, failing to achieve almost any of his stated military objectives three years into Russia’s war against Ukraine, despite an estimated 900,000 Russians killed and wounded.[6] His forces have not captured Kyiv, as they set out to do in 2022, nor have they captured all of Kherson, Zaporizhia, or Donetsk oblasts. They have been on the offensive for roughly 18 months but have gained only limited territory — and almost no significant settlements — at a staggering cost in casualties and lost materiel.
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Between the lines: The Kremlin’s calculationTrump’s blunt assessment has set off a fresh round of debate: is Putin really losing his mind? Or is there cold method behind the madness?But is Putin truly “crazy,” or simply following a cold, strategic logic shaped by years of confrontation with the West? Analysts caution that while his decisions may seem unhinged to outside observers, they remain rooted in a worldview where survival depends on confrontation. The Economist notes that Russia has fundamentally shifted its approach, flooding Ukraine’s skies with hundreds of drones in an attempt to exhaust its air defenses – a strategy that is brutal, but not irrational.The Kremlin’s narrative, amplified in Russian state media, is that this is an existential war – one that Russia must win to secure its future against what it sees as a hostile West. In that light, Putin’s escalation is less about personal madness and more about his belief that only total victory can secure Russia’s place in the world.Putin’s tactics may be horrifying to Western observers, but they have a chilling logic: keep up the pressure on Ukraine’s cities and exhaust the West’s willingness to keep sending weapons and money. At the same time, the Russian economy has proven surprisingly resilient, with oil revenues stabilizing despite sanctions.As Russian military analyst Igor Korotchenko told the Moscow-based National Defense Magazine, “Whatever territorial gains Russia makes will objectively strengthen its hand in the negotiations.” From the Kremlin’s point of view, “crazy” or not, escalation is a tool to break Ukrainian resolve and Western unity.The view from KyivUkrainian leaders, meanwhile, see no evidence that Putin is ready to stop – or that Trump’s shifting stance will help. In a fiery post on Telegram, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote, “Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murders in Western countries.”Many Ukrainians now see the war as a battle of wills as much as weapons. “America and Russia are playing a dirty and bloody game,” said Liliia Zambrovska, a pharmacist in Dnipro, speaking to the New York Times. “But Ukraine will fight on because our future belongs to us alone.”Europe’s worries, China’s shadowThe fighting has also become a test of European resolve. France and Germany have both pledged new aid to Ukraine, but they fear Trump’s vacillations – and they know that Russia’s growing ties with China add a new layer of peril. Even if Ukraine survives, the specter of a Russia more deeply tied to Beijing haunts Europe’s future.The final risk: Not a madman, but a man who can’t stop?Is Putin truly “crazy”? Or simply a man so locked into his own myth – the myth of Russia’s rebirth through conquest – that he can’t change course?Eric Ciaramella, of the Carnegie Endowment, thinks Putin’s talk of “all of Ukraine” may be pure bluff, given the Kremlin’s actual battlefield struggles. “Russia is only achieving localized breakthroughs,” he said. “Putin’s thinking that he can take all four regions swiftly – or even any time soon – is not realistic at all.”For now, though, Putin’s actions suggest he sees no way back. His Russia is bombing Ukrainian cities with record ferocity, while his army grinds forward in the east. Every day he avoids a ceasefire is a day he can sell the war at home as proof of Russia’s strength – or at least as a shield against its enemies.The destruction of Ukraine – and of Russia?Trump warned that Putin’s full conquest of Ukraine would “lead to the downfall of Russia!” But does Putin see that risk? Some think he does – and simply doesn’t care. In ‘The Russia That Putin Made’, Alexander Gabuev wrote in Foreign Affairs that “Putin’s Russia has become much more repressive, and anti-Westernism has only become more pervasive.” In this worldview, crushing Ukraine is worth any price, even if it means turning Russia into a fortress-state at permanent odds with the West.Others, like Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense Magazine in Moscow, believe Putin sees victory – or at least the illusion of it – as the only way to maintain his grip on power. “Whatever territorial gains Russia makes will objectively strengthen its hand in negotiations,” he said in a recent interview.Sadly, history offers a darker possibility: that Putin’s “crazy” war could drag on for years, because no one around him dares to say no. Until then, the war will continue – as much a reflection of one man’s warped vision as of any cold logic. Whether that vision is truly “crazy” is almost beside the point. The cost is real, and it is paid in blood every night that the drones keep coming.(With inputs from agencies)
