...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...on Thursday called on Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
to halt attacks on Ukraine, in a rare rebuke of the Russian leader after Moscow fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv, killing at least 12 in the deadliest attack on the capital in months.
The direct appeal to Putin came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to put Russia under more pressure to halt its invasion.
The Ukrainian leader cut short a trip to South Africa to deal with the aftermath of the deadly strikes, the latest in a wave of large-scale Russian aerial attacks that have killed dozens of civilians.
''I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,'' Trump said on social media.
''Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!'' he said. ''Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!''
Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Russia this week where he is expected to hold talks with Putin on a possible deal, his fourth since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Ukraine has been battered with aerial attacks throughout Russia's three-year invasion but deadly strikes on Kyiv, better protected by air defences than other cities, are less common.
The attacks threw more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, with Trump having lashed out at Zelensky this week for not being willing to accept Russian occupation of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
''We do everything that our partners have proposed, only what contradicts our legislation and the Constitution we cannot do,'' Zelensky told news hounds in South Africa in response to a question about Crimea.
Zelensky also questioned whether Kyiv's allies were themselves doing enough to force Putin to agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire.
''I don't see any strong pressure on Russia or any new sanctions packages against Russia's aggression,'' Zelensky said, highlighting that Trump had previously warned of repercussions if Moscow did not agree to pause the fighting.