Russia Ukraine war latest: Trump lashes out at ‘crazy’ Putin after Moscow launches largest ever drone attack yet

Ukraine has confirmed information that China is supplying a range of important products to Russian military plants, the chief of Ukrainian foreign intelligence was quoted on Monday as saying.

“There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defence manufacturing industries,” Oleh Ivashchenko told Ukrinform state news agency.

“We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories,” he said.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has forged even closer trade and other economic relations with Russia since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Western sanctions on the Russian economy.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that China was supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, the first time he had openly accused Beijing of direct military assistance for Moscow. China dismissed the accusation as “groundless” but Kyiv imposed sanctions on three Chinese entities.

Russia launched 367 drones and missiles in Sunday’s onslaught, striking more than 30 cities and villages, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force.

Sounds of explosions boomed throughout the night in Kyiv and families in a village near the capital returned to find their homes burned down on Sunday.

The prime minister’s activities on the world stage have made him of great interest to Moscow, says Katia Glod, who shows how Russian media activity about him soars every time he sticks his head above the parapet

Russian president Vladimir Putin will meet with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The pair will mostly discuss bilateral relations but will also talk about Ukraine.

Turkey held peace talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, the first since meetings, which were also in Turkey, in March 2022.

Nothing substantive came of the talks earlier this month, though a deal was made to swap 2,000 prisoners of war.

That exchange was completed yesterday, hours before Russia launched it’s largest aerial attack on Ukraine of the more than three year war, in signs that the positive agreement to swap a large amount of POWs had little effect on the long-term prospects of peace.

Russia’s latest wave of drone and missile attacks, the most significant of the more than three year war, must be met with increased sanctions, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

In a post on social media, the Ukrainian leader said Russia must be punished for the attacks, instead of being offered “more effort on ‘diaolgue’”.

“Putin shows just how much he despises the world — the world that spends more effort on “dialogue” with him than on real pressure,” Zelensky wrote on X.

“The increase in Russian strikes should be met with increased sanctions. Russia’s disregard for diplomacy and refusal even to consider a ceasefire must be met with a freeze on Russian finances and a halt to its oil trade.”

You can read his full statement below.

Germany’s foreign minister has said the international community “cannot tolerate” Vladimir Putin’s continued attacks on Ukraine while talks about peace are ongoing.

In what could be interpreted as a veiled swipe at the Donald Trump administration, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said it was clear that Putin “doesn’t want peace” and that more needs to be done to punish him.

“The international community cannot tolerate this,” he said, adding that Putin was “trampling on human rights”.

Ahead of a planned visit to Washington on Wednesday to meet with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Wadephul added that Russia’s latest aerial attacks on Ukraine represent an “affront to US president Donald Trump, who tried to bring the Kremlin chief to the negotiating table”.

“And now, this reaction,” he said, referring to Russia launching 355 drones and nine missiles at Ukraine last night. “You can see that Putin doesn’t want peace, he wants to continue the war, and we cannot allow him to do that.”

Donald Trump’s claims that Vladimir Putin has gone “aboslutely crazy” are down to “emotional overload”, the Kremlin has claimed after firing a record 355 drones and nine missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least a dozen civilians.

“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 the Trump remarks about 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.”

Finland’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned Russia’s Helsinki ambassador to ask for an explanation regarding a suspected violation of Finnish airspace that took place last week.

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the Nato alliance boosting its presence in the area with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.

Finland’s defence ministry reported on 23 May that two Russian military aircraft were suspected of violating their airspace.

Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a Nato and EU member, three senior Russian sources have told Reuters.

They also point out that many Russian officials cannot even fly there due to Western restrictions. It is further confirmation of Russia’s view of the Vatican being an inappropriate venue for peace talks, as highlighted by Moscow’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov last week.

The Vatican has so far been silent in public on the idea raised by US President Donald Trump after a call with President Vladimir Putin that Pope Leo XIV could host talks aimed at ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last week that Pope Leo XIV, the first US-born pontiff, had confirmed his willingness to host talks during a phone call with her.

“The Vatican definitely is not seen in Russia as a serious force capable of resolving such a complex conflict,” one senior Russian source acquainted with top-level Kremlin thinking said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Among the reasons cited by the three sources is the fact that both Russia and Ukraine are predominantly Eastern Orthodox countries, while the Vatican is surrounded by Nato member Italy, which has supported Ukraine and repeatedly sanctioned Russia.

The Russian sources underscored that for most senior Russian officials, it would be very difficult to even get to the Vatican from Moscow as direct flights were cancelled after the start of the war on 24 February, 2022, and there are a myriad of European Union sanctions on Russian officials.