Trump very angry with Putin over ceasefire talks as strikes continue on Ukraine

By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda updated at 14:39 EAT on Monday 31 March 2025

There has been no official reaction yet in Moscow to Donald Trump’s comments. That may come later in the day. But I don’t expect the Kremlin to say “we are quaking in our boots”. Traditionally, President Vladimir Putin does not take well to threats and ultimatums.

What caught my eye this morning is an article in one of the leading pro-Kremlin papers, Moskovsky Komsomolets. It points an accusatory finger back at President Trump and accuses the US president of not fulfilling his “obligations” to stop Ukraine striking Russian energy infrastructure.

That is rare criticism of Donald Trump in the Russian media. He usually gets a good press here. The article ends with a warning: “If the diplomats cannot move the peace process forward, the military will do all the talking. Putin has made his move, now we wait for Trump’s.”

We need to add a note of caution from what we have seen before. What Trump says one day can change dramatically, diametrically by the next.

This makes analysing them in real time difficult for us – and possibly for the Kremlin, too.

Russia has stepped up the number of attacks using highly powerful glide bombs, reports say.

Over the course of Sunday alone, it launched 223 glide bombs at Ukrainian troops and settlements, the Ukranian general staff says

Glide bombs are cheap but highly destructive ordnance made from conventional free- fall bombs fitted with pop-out wings.

It has also recently increased the number of glide bombs launched in a single strike.

Overnight, Ukraine’s air defences shot down 57 out of 131 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force says in its daily update.

Posting on Telegram, the air force says Russian drones were “shot down in the north, east and centre of the country”.

Some 45 decoy drones were lost in flight and did not cause damage, it says, adding that Sumy, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions were affected by the Russian attack.

Donald Trump’s comments on Sunday – saying he was “very angry” with Vladimir Putin – were a response to the Russian president’s comments on Friday, in the far north-western Russian city of Murmansk.

There, Vladimir Putin suggested an interim government in Ukraine under the support of the UN could replace President Zelensky, before elections hand power to a “capable government” to begin peace talks.

The Russian president suggested UN supervision would be in place “in order to hold a democratic election [in Ukraine], in order to bring in a competent government trusted by people”.

He said Russia would then hold peace talks with the new government, and “sign legitimate documents which would be recognised worldwide and be reliable and stable”.

Citing examples of the UN’s involvement in East Timor, New Guinea and parts of former Yugoslavia, Putin said “such practice does exist”.

He added: “Technically, it is possible to discuss the possibility of introducing interim governance in Ukraine under the UN auspices with the United States, with European countries, naturally, with our partners and friends.”

As we’ve reported, Donald Trump accused Volodomyr Zelensky on Sunday of trying to “renegotiate” the minerals deal that would give the US access to Ukraine’s rare earths.

Meanwhile, Moscow and Washington have begun talks on jointly exploiting Russian rare earth metals, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, has said.

“Rare earth metals are an important area of cooperation and, of course, we have started discussions on various rare earth metals and projects in Russia,” he told pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia.

Dmitriev was involved in key Russian-US talks in Saudi Arabia on 18 February this year.

Also in February, Vladimir Putin made the unusual step of inviting American companies to get involved in mining Russian rare earth minerals.

Before that, he had accused the West, particularly the US, external, of trying to dismember Russia in order to gain access to its natural resources.

Trump demands access to Ukraine’s rare earth metals as a key condition for continued support to Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky gave his usual address to the Ukrainian people on Sunday night, and seemingly responded to Donald Trump’s comments about Vladimir Putin.

He said Putin “does not care about diplomacy”, and called for further pressure on Russia to end the war.

“For several weeks now, there has been a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling and ballistic strikes,” the Ukrainian president said.

“Russia deserves increased pressure – all the tough measures that can break its capacity to wage war and sustain the system that wants nothing but war,” Zelensky added.

While Trump was speaking about Putin and Zelensky, the attacks on Ukraine continued.

Overnight, Russia carried out air strikes on Kharkiv – the second night of strikes in Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Two people were injured in the latest attack, which also damaged private homes, Ukrainian officials said.

In the early hours of Sunday, Russia carried out six separate strikes on Kharkiv, killing two people and injuring 25.

Despite the change of tone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump wasn’t exactly positive on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, either.

On Friday, Zelensky said his government was scrutinising the text of the latest minerals deal it received from the US. Zelensky said he could not accept anything that threatened Ukraine’s EU integration.

“He wants to be a member of Nato. Well, he was never going to be a member of Nato. He understands that. So if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”

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