BURSTRussia seized four Ukrainian border towns in the northeast late Monday while tempering down its bombing campaign after three days of intense aerial attacks.
The move comes just days after President Trump claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone “crazy.”
Oleh Hryhorov, the head of the Sumy regional military administration said Monday that Russian forces captured four villages: Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka. He added that the local population was evacuated early so that they would not be in danger.
The land seizure comes less than a week after Putin ordered the military to formulate a buffer zone along the Russian border with Ukraine. Sumy Oblast borders Russia’s Kursk region, an area the Ukrainian military occupied parts of during last year’s offensive.
Russia launched 60 drones into Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian military. The nation's Air Force said early Tuesday that 43 Shahed drones were downed in the east, north and south of the country.
The aerial attacks have dropped in intensity after Russia launched around 900 drones, including 355 late Sunday, breaking the record of drones fired since the war in Eastern Europe started in February 2022.
Trump has also ramped up his criticism of Putin in recent days.
“He’s killing a lot of people and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people and I don’t like it at all. OK," the president told reporters on Sunday.
"We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all,” he added.
Trump hammered the Russian leader further Sunday, writing that Putin has gone "absolutely” crazy. In the social media post, the president also slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he is “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does.”
The jabs from the White House prompted a response from the Kremlin.
Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “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 U.S. has in some ways stepped back from demanding a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, with Trump instead suggesting Moscow and Kyiv should negotiate the terms directly.