In rare rebuke of Putin, Trump urges Russia to 'STOP!' after deadly attack on Kyiv

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

Russia struck Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. At least 12 people were killed and 90 were injured in the deadliest assault on the city since last July.

Trump’s frustration is growing as a U.S.-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress.

The comments about Putin came after Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and accused him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014.

With his assertion that Putin demonstrated “very bad timing" with the massive attack, Trump appeared to suggest that the Russian leader was doing himself no favors toward achieving the Kremlin's demand that any peace agreement include Russia keeping control of Crimea as well as Ukrainian territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions it has seized since invading in February 2022.

Later Thursday during an Oval Office meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump said that Crimea was taken from Ukraine without a fight. He also noted that annexation of the Black Sea peninsula happened under President Barack Obama's watch.

Asked what Putin is doing now to help forge a peace deal, Trump responded, “stopping taking the whole country, pretty big concession.”

But the notion is one that Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against, arguing that Russia pausing a land grab is hardly a concession.

Zelenskyy has repeated many times that recognizing occupied territory as Russia's is a red line for Ukraine. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Moscow's attacks had continued.

Trump’s criticism of Putin is notable because Trump has repeatedly said Russia is more willing than Ukraine to get a deal done.

“I didn’t like last night,” Trump said of Russia’s massive attack on Kyiv. “I wasn’t happy with it.”

In his dealings with Zelenskyy and Putin, Trump has focused on which leader has leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy does not, Trump has said repeatedly. At the same time, the new Republican administration has taken steps toward a more cooperative line with Putin, for whom Trump has long shown admiration.

Trump in his meeting with Norway's Gahr Støre discussed the war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs and other issues.

Norway, a member of NATO and strong supporter of Ukraine, shares a roughly 123-mile (198-kilometer) border with Russia.

Gahr Støre said “both parties have to know that they have to deliver." He also suggested that Trump is pushing the two sides to come to an agreement.

“To move towards an end of this war, U.S engagement is critical, and President Trump made that possible," he said. "That is clear”

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin should “stop lying” when he claims to want “peace” while continuing to bomb Ukraine.

“There is only one answer we are waiting for: Does President Putin agree to an unconditional ceasefire?” said Macron during a visit to Madagascar. Macron added that “the Americans’ anger should focus on just one person: President Putin.”

The French Foreign Ministry also offered measured pushback on Trump's criticism of Zelenskyy over the Ukrainian's stance on Crimea.

During talks last week in Paris, U.S. officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European official familiar with the matter. The proposal was discussed again Wednesday during talks with U.S., European, and Ukrainian officials.

“The principle of Ukraine’s territorial integrity is not something that can be negotiated,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said. “This was the position taken last week and reiterated yesterday in London in a meeting of a similar format.”

Asked whether France agreed with Trump’s comments that Ukraine’s position was to blame for prolonging the war, Lemoine said Ukrainians showed they are open to negotiations while Russia continues its strikes.

“We rather have the impression that it is the Russians who are slowing down the discussions,” he said.

The White House announced Tuesday that Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would visit Moscow this week for a new round of talks with Putin about the war. It would be their fourth meeting since Trump took office in January.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met on Thursday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who also held talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's national security adviser, Michael Waltz.

Leaders from the 32-member alliance are set to meet in the Netherlands in two months. Trump has pushed them to significantly step up defense spending.

In 2023, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second year, they agreed that all allies should spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on their military budgets. Estimates in NATO's annual report released Thursday showed that 22 allies had reached that goal last year, compared with a previous forecast of 23.

“But clearly with 2%, we cannot defend NATO territory,” Rutte told reporters at the White House following the meeting. “It has to be considerably higher.”

Petrequin reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein))

President Donald Trump greets Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, upon his arrival at the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump greets Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, upon his arrival at the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump walks out to greet Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St¯re, upon his arrival at the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, walks to a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, following an Honor Cordon at the Pentagon, Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, walks to his seat at the start of a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center right, at the Pentagon, Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Rescue workers clear the rubble after a Russian strike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Ukrainian police officers stand near a damaged building after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Ukrainian serviceman carries a dog out of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A rescue worker clears the rubble of a house damaged by a Russian strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a news conference at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, April 24, 2025 with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on economic issues via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A residential house heavily damaged after a Russian strike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsaid Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he's repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project Trump has criticized as excessive.

Here's the latest:

Stocks are falling on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 384 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.

Powell characterized the threat of criminal charges as pretexts to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates, its main tool for fighting inflation. The threat is the latest escalation in President Trump’s feud with the Fed.

▶ Read more about the financial markets

She says she had “a very good conversation” with Trump on Monday morning about topics including “security with respect to our sovereignties.”

Last week, Sheinbaum had said she was seeking a conversation with Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. president made comments in an interview that he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.

Trump’s offers of using U.S. forces against Mexican cartels took on a new weight after the Trump administration deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Sheinbaum was expected to share more about their conversation later Monday.

A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country’s fractured relations with the world’s second-largest economy — and reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies.

The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.

Carney aims to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade in the face of President Trump’s tariffs and the American leader’s musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”

▶ Read more about relations between Canada and China

The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. President Trump has said he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.

Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.

▶ Read more about the U.S. and Greenland

Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.

“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”

During a meeting Friday with oil executives, Trump tried to assuage the concerns of the companies and said they would be dealing directly with the U.S., rather than the Venezuelan government.

Some, however, weren’t convinced.

“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on ExxonMobil

Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

▶ Read more about the “suspicious object”

Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.

▶ Read more about the possible negotiations and follow live updates

Fed Chair Powell said Sunday the DOJ has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.

Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.

▶ Read more about the subpoenas

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)