Trump's relationship with Putin 'at breaking point' after Russia unleashes Kyiv blitz

The US president has performed a complete U-turn, deploying subs to Russia and bringing forward a deadline on sanctions, writes Hugh Tomlinson

- Hugh Tomlinson

In January this year, Donald Trump returned to the White House having boasted about his “very close relationship” with Vladimir Putin and promising during his presidential campaign to end the war in Ukraine in a day.

On Friday, Trump announced that, in response to threats from the Kremlin, he had deployed two “nuclear submarines” to “appropriate regions” around Russia.

As his cherished bromance with Putin turns sour and tensions rise over Ukraine, the former cold war rivals now risk sliding back into nuclear brinkmanship and open threats of war.

It was during his visit to his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire a week ago that the president's patience appeared to snap. Slashing a 50-day deadline he set last month for Russia to agree to a peace deal, Trump issued a new ultimatum, threatening sanctions against Moscow from this week in an attempt to force Putin to the negotiating table.

“I’m not so interested in talking any more,” Trump said during a press conference with Keir Starmer. “He talks, we have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations, and then people die the following night.”

On Tuesday morning, hours after his comments, a hospital in Ukraine’s eastern region was hit by a ballistic missile that killed three people. Sixteen others died and more than 50 were injured in the bombing of a prison in the Zaporizhzhia region - a civilian facility. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, called its targeting deliberate.

Then, in the early hours of Thursday, Kyiv suffered its deadliest attack in a year. A coordinated barrage of more than 300 drones and eight ballistic missiles caused a nine-storey block of flats to collapse, killing 31, including five children.

Trump's ultimatum caps a remarkable turnaround from the early weeks of his administration, when he appeared to side with Russia, denouncing Zelensky as a “dictator” and accusing him of starting the war.