Russia ‘Playing America,’ Says Senior GOP Senator, Urges Trump To Punish Putin

Russia was playing the United States for a fool and its longtime leader should be placed under the most stringent sanctions, Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley warned President Donald Trump Friday in the wake of Russian strikes on Ukraine and ongoing negotiations.

Grassley said that Trump should “pls put the toughest of sanctions on [Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin” as “U ought to c from clear evidence that he is playing America as a patsy.”

Grassley, 91, who also serves as the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, said he could not bear to see the killing of noncombatant Ukrainian women and children continue.

Grassley’s statement followed Russian strikes on Ukraine Thursday — as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was attending the G20 summit in South Africa. Russia fired nearly 70 missiles and used 150-odd attack drones, killing nine people in Kyiv, injuring over 80 people in other parts of the country, and causing “significant destruction,” Zelenskyy said.

The strikes came 43 days after Ukraine and not Russia agreed to a ceasefire proposal from the U.S., Zelenskyy said.

The death toll in Kyiv later rose to 12, according to Zelenskyy.

The missile fired on Kyiv was a ballistic missile made in North Korea with most of its components originating from American companies, Zelenskyy said.

The strikes appeared to draw Trump’s ire. “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Trump wrote.

A car explosion in Moscow killed senior Russian military officer Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, Friday, according to Russian state-owned news outlet TASS. The U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held a “constructive and very useful” meeting with Putin the same day, according to the outlet. The U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg held talks with Ukrainian officials in London Wednesday, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidency’s office, posted. Kellogg called the talks “positive.”

Russia’s domestic security agency, the FSB, arrested a man they described as Ukrainian special services agent Ignat Kuzin in connection with Lieutenant General Moskalik’s killing, TASS separately reported.

Putin had promised an Easter Day, April 20, ceasefire — nonetheless, Russia violated the ceasefire 2,935 times on Easter Day alone, according to Zelenskyy. Russian strikes reportedly killed at least 34 people in Sumy, Ukraine, on Palm Sunday, April 13 as people went to church. (RELATED: Russian Missile Attack Kills Dozens Of Civilians In Ukraine On Palm Sunday)

“The Russian army is one of the biggest threats to Christian churches and believers. Over the years of full-scale war, 67 Ukrainian priests, pastors and monks have been killed or tortured by Russian occupiers. 640 religious sites have been destroyed, most of them Christian,” Zelenskyy wrote before the Easter attacks.

Trump and Zelenskyy met Saturday while attending the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican. It was a “good and “[v]ery symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results,” Zelenskyy said, while also sharing a picture of both leaders in apparent conversation with each other.

Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to… pic.twitter.com/q4ZhVXCjw0

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 26, 2025

Both leaders differed on the ownership of Crimea. “Crimea will stay with Russia,” Trump told TIME, while also saying Ukraine’s desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started the war. Zelenskyy reacted to the remark by telling reporters that Crimea and all other Russian-occupied territories constitutionally belonged to Ukraine, the BBC reported.

Trump said there had been ” a good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine.” Both sides “are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’” he added.

“We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” Trump wrote.