‘HE HAS GONE ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!’: Taking advantage of the lack of U.S. and European resolve, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dramatically intensified his aerial attacks on Ukraine, hoping for a knockout blow, thanks to Russia’s increased production of Shahed drones, reportedly up to 100 a day.
Russia launched three nights of strikes over the Memorial Day weekend, firing more than 900 drones and missiles in what Ukraine called an “increasingly brazen and large-scale” assault on five key cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa.
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On Sunday, as the scale of the carnage was unfolding, President Donald Trump was incredulous. “I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing. 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,” Trump told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey. “We’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all.”
Later on Truth Social, Trump posted, “Something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”
RESTRICTIONS LIFTED ON UKRAINE FIRING LONG-RANGE MISSILES AFTER MASSIVE RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK
‘IT IS A TIME FOR HONESTY’: While Trump was questioning, “What the hell happened to Putin,” Ukraine supporters in Congress were asking a different question: “When is Trump going to realize that Putin has no intention of ending the war until he gets everything he wants?”
“It is a time for honesty. Peace talks are having zero effect on Putin,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a retired Air Force one-star general, posted on X. “His goal is to dominate Ukraine & he won’t stop until he realizes he cannot win. The U.S. & Allies must arm Ukraine to the teeth, sanction Russia to the max, & confiscate the $300B in overseas Russian assets.”
“I’ve had enuf of Putin killing innocent ppl,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) posted last night. “Pres Trump Take action AT LEAST SANCTIONS.”
“It is clear to me that after all these months, the earnest efforts by President Trump are not being equally met,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in a Senate floor speech last week. “It is now time to increase the cost of this war to Putin. The sanctions package we have put together has [over] 80 cosponsors. Do you know how hard it is to get 80 Senators to agree on anything? Eighty of us — and the number is climbing — are ready to impose sanctions on Russia if Putin does not come to the table and earnestly seek peace.”
GRASSLEY IMPLORES TRUMP TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA
ZELENSKY: ‘AMERICA’S SILENCE … ONLY ENCOURAGES PUTIN’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky poked Trump Sunday morning in a post on Telegram, resulting in Trump lashing out in his Sunday evening post.
“The world may go on vacation, but the war continues, despite weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. America’s silence, and the silence of others in the world, only encourages Putin,” Zelensky said, infuriating Trump.
“President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does,” Trump said. “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
In his nightly video address, Zelensky cited what he called “information obtained by intelligence and from open-source data,” showing that “Putin and his entourage” have no plans to end the war anytime soon.
“There is currently no indication that they are seriously considering peace or diplomacy. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that they are preparing new offensive operations. Russia is counting on a prolonged war,” Zelensky said. “Russians are supposedly drafting proposals for a memorandum on peace. They’ve already spent over a week on this. They talk a lot about diplomacy. But when, in the midst of all that, there are constant Russian strikes, constant killings, relentless assaults, and even preparations for new offensives.”
ZELENSKY SAYS ‘SILENCE’ OF US ENABLING PUTIN AFTER DEADLY STRIKES ON KYIV
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: NEW ‘PHYSICAL CONTROL MEASURES’: The initial announcement on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed innocuous enough. “We’re announcing additional credentialing procedures for the press at the Pentagon in the interest of national security.” However, the attached memo outlined a series of restrictions on Pentagon reporters that upended decades of openness and transparency that allowed the press access to civilian and military personnel.
Since its construction during World War II, the Pentagon has been unique among military headquarters in that it allows reporters to have offices in the building and to move freely through its 17 and 1/2 miles of corridors to speak with sources both on and off the record.
The new policies, dubbed “Updated Physical Control Measures for Press/Media Access Within the Pentagon,” bar reporters from large areas of the building without an escort and give them less freedom of movement than “maintenance staff of concessions workers,” as the Pentagon Press Association pointed out in a statement decrying the new restrictions.
“Up until now, the press could wander all around the Pentagon with no oversight. Even outside of sensitive/classified areas. So moving forward, they’ll need an escort to access those areas,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said on X. “They still have access to the entire defense press office, the press secretary & my office, as well as much of the rest of the building. These are pragmatic changes to protect operational security & ultimately brings the Pentagon in line with other government buildings.”
The new rules are designed to “reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures,” in other words, running into someone in the hallway, one of the primary ways reporters gather news at the Pentagon. The beat has always been one that was covered by walking around.
“There is no way to sugarcoat it,” the Pentagon Press Association said in its statement. “Today’s memo … appears to be a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America’s right to know what its military is doing.”
“The PPA is puzzled why the DOD is devoting such attention to restricting Pentagon media instead of engaging with it as senior leaders have long done.” The Pentagon has dispatched with a long tradition of weekly press briefings at the Pentagon, and Hegseth has yet to appear in the Pentagon briefing room to take questions from reporters.
The memo outlining the new restrictions includes a potentially chilling requirement that reporters will be required to sign a form acknowledging their responsibility to protect “classified national intelligence information,” as well as “sensitive, unclassified information,” which could be anything the Pentagon would prefer not be reported.
“I don’t know if I’ll be telling you anything good or bad over the next two days but I have a feeling I might be telling you something good. We’ve had some real progress, serious progress,” Trump said. “I’d love to see no bombs dropped and a lot of people dead. I really would like to see that happen, and I think there’s a good chance that it could happen.”
WHERE THINGS STAND ON US-IRAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Trump furious over Putin’s deadly strikes on Kyiv, will ‘absolutely’ consider sanctions
Washington Examiner: Grassley implores Trump to impose sanctions on Russia
Washington Examiner: Zelensky says ‘silence’ of US enabling Putin after deadly strikes on Kyiv
Washington Examiner: Trump honors fallen troops and Gold Star families at Arlington National Cemetery
Washington Examiner: Hegseth and Trump highlight return to ‘war-fighting’ in new military recruitment ad
Washington Examiner: Israeli nationalists chant ‘death to Arabs’ during annual Jerusalem march
Washington Examiner: Gaza aid group chief resigns over ‘humanitarian principles’
Washington Examiner: Trump greenlights ‘significant’ changes to ‘big, beautiful bill’ over Mike Johnson objections
Washington Examiner: Where things stand on US-Iran nuclear negotiations
Washington Examiner: Vance emphasizes ‘generational shift’ in US foreign policy at Naval Academy graduation
Washington Examiner: Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira hopes for a Trump pardon
Washington Examiner: Task force concludes ‘DEI is dead at DoD’
Washington Examiner: ‘Politicizing education’: China blasts Trump’s ‘illicit’ ban on foreign students at Harvard
Washington Examiner: Kremlin says Vatican shouldn’t host peace talks due to religious differences
Washington Examiner: American citizen arrested in attempt to firebomb US Embassy office in Tel Aviv
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Rubio’s callous national security council cull
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Reinforces Europe’s Northern Front, Fearing War With Russia
Washington Post: U.S. cuts in Somalia could imperil the fight against al-Shabab
Washington Post: Slammed by Russian missiles, Ukraine seeks more U.S. air defense systems
Air Force Times: US Spent $6 Billion in the Past 3 Years to Recruit and Retain Troops
Breaking Defense: What a Historic Absence of Its Top Officer Means for the Navy
Military Times: Pentagon Lost Contact with Army Helo That Caused DC Jet Diversions
Air & Space Forces Magazine: General Says Commercial Space Industry is Ready for Golden Dome
Air & Space Forces Magazine: What the US Can Learn From the Ukraine War’s Space Front
Task & Purpose: Report: No Clear Strategy for Maintaining Guam Missile Defense
SpaceNews: Raytheon Secures $380 Million Contract Extension for GPS Ground Control System
The War Zone: F-15E Spotted Packing Big Laser-Guided Rocket Arsenal Ideal for Drone Hunting
Defense News: Maintenance Costs Will Spike as Militaries Add Advanced Planes: Report
Air & Space Forces Magazine: It’s Time for the Air Force to Embrace the F-35
Stars and Stripes: Army Heralds a New Beginning for The Old Guard as Horse-Drawn Caissons Return to Arlington
Air & Space Forces Magazine: MITRE: ‘We Still Have Work to Do’ to Attract New Defense Contractors
THE CALENDAR:
TUESDAY | MAY 27
8 a.m. — German Marshall Fund of the U.S. virtual discussion: “Local Stakeholders and Ukraine’s Resilience: Community-Level Engagement and EU Financial Support,” with Vadim Boychenko, governing board member of ALDA-European Association of Local Democracy, chair of the Association of Ukrainian Cities Section on the Development of Deoccupied and Temporarily Occupied Municipalities and mayor of Mariupol, Ukraine; Wilfried Jilge, associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations and adviser at the German Federal Foreign Office; Georg Milbradt, special envoy on administrative reforms and decentralization in Ukraine and Germany; Clara Volintiru, regional director at Black Sea; Dmytro Nikulshyn, first deputy head at the Ukrainian Regional Association; and Stefanie Schiffer, founder and director of the Kyiv Dialogue/European Exchange https://www.gmfus.org/event/local-stakeholders-and-ukraines-resilience
9 a.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion: “Britain in an Enduring Transatlantic Relationship,” with U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Lord Mandelson; and Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/the-rt-hon-lord-mandelson
WEDNESDAY | MAY 28
9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “The Russia-Ukraine Drone War: Innovation on the Frontlines and Beyond,” with Kateryna Bondar, fellow at the Wadhwani AI Center; Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani AI Center; and Samuel Bendett, non-resident senior associate at the CSIS Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program https://www.csis.org/events/russia-ukraine-drone-war-innovation
11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “What Are U.S. and NATO Views on China?” with Henrietta Levin, former deputy China coordinator for global affairs at the State Department and former director for China and Southeast Asia for the White House National Security Council; Victor Cha, president of the CSIS Geopolitcs and Foreign Policy Department and CSIS Korea Chair; and Luis Simon, non-resident senior associate at the CSIS Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program https://www.csis.org/events/impossible-state-live-podcast
1 p.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace virtual discussion: “Diplomacy or War: The Trump Administration and Iran,” with Suzanne Maloney, director, Brookings Institution Foreign Policy Program; Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; and Aaron David Miller, CEIP senior fellow https://carnegieendowment.org/events
3:30 p.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion: “Reporters at Risk: Editors’ Perspectives,” with Tom Bowman, Pentagon reporter at NPR; Laurie Goodstein, deputy international editor at the New York Times; David Wood, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist; Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council; and Adrienne Arsht, executive vice chair of the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Center and the Atlantic Council’s National Security Resilience Initiative https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/reporters-at-risk-editors-perspectives/