What happened
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that his government, France, Britain and the U.S. had lifted "any range restrictions for weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine," allowing Kyiv to "defend itself by, for example, attacking military positions in Russia." His comments followed Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war, which prompted President Donald Trump to claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has gone absolutely CRAZY!" Russia suggested Trump's criticism stemmed from "emotional overload."
Who said what
"I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin," Trump told reporters Sunday in New Jersey. "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." Putin is "needlessly killing a lot of people" for "no reason whatsoever," he said on social media a few hours later.
When asked by reporters, Trump said he was "absolutely" considering new sanctions on Russia. But he has made empty threats about sanctions before and "expressed shock that the Russian president was unleashing attacks on Ukrainian civilians," while refusing to give Kyiv new weapons or missile defenses, said The New York Times. "The result is a strategic void" in which Trump "complains about Russia's continued killing" but won't make Putin "pay even a modest price."
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Trump's decisions on Ukraine are "colored" by his "dislike" for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his belief that Putin "would end the war as a personal favor" to him, The Wall Street Journal said. After Putin "refused" to meet with Zelenskyy in Turkey for peace talks, Trump "claimed that the only way to achieve progress in the war would be by him speaking directly" with Putin, The Washington Post said. "The two men spoke for several hours by phone last week, and Russia has since ramped up its devastating attacks across Ukraine."
What next?
Merz, speaking at a forum organized by public broadcaster WDR, was "tightlipped" on whether his new government would supply Kyiv with Tarsus missiles, which have a range of 310 miles, The Associated Press said. He cited a need for "strategic ambiguity."
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