Posted by 
Vladimir Putin appeared to ignore Donald Trump’s threat to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday and launched deadly attacks across Ukraine.
The US president told the Russian leader to stop “pounding” Ukraine or face serious sanctions last week, after weeks of not applying any pressure to Moscow.
However, the UN has since said Friday was one of the deadliest days for civilians this year after 21 people were killed in Ukraine.
A further 81 people were injured, 79 of whom were in territory controlled by Ukraine.
The UN also found casualty numbers in Ukraine overall for 2025 remain higher than they were in 2024.
The attacks unfolded even as Trump was telling reporters in the White House that Putin “holds all the cards” – and that Russia is “easier to deal with” than Ukraine on Friday.
It’s worth remembering that Russia invaded Ukraine in a land grab in 2022.
But, Trump said Kyiv has to “get on the ball and get the job done” when it comes to a peace agreement, adding: “I have to know that [Ukraine] want to settle – if they don’t want to settle, we’re out of there.
“They’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine… I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.”
And, despite the ongoing bombardments, Trump then said he thinks Putin wants peace, and “I think he’s doing what anyone else would do”.
He claimed: “I think both parties want to settle. I think we are going to get it settled.”
This also comes after Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg said Ukraine brought the US’s pause in intelligence sharing and military aid “on themselves.”
Speaking on Thursday, Kellogg said: “Very candidly, they brought it on themselves, the Ukrainians.
“I think the best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose. You got their attention, and it’s very significant, obviously, because of the support that we give.”
“We’re going to end this war, and this is one way to make sure you understand we’re serious about it.
“So is it hard, of course it is, but it’s not like they didn’t know this was coming. They got fair warning it was coming.”
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN on Friday that Putin is continuing his attacks on Ukraine because he knows the threat from Trump was “totally hollow”.
″[Trump] did it simply to show some kind of balance given the things he had said about Zelenskyy and Ukrainians,” Bolton said, alluding to the US president’s baseless attacks on the Ukrainian president.
Trump, as he aligns more closely with Moscow, has falsely called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, claimed he is ungrateful for the US’s support during the war and blamed Kyiv for starting the war.
Related…
