US and Russia Clash in Public as the Ukraine War Heats Up 

A handout photo made available by the press service of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade shows new recruits of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade attending their training on an obstacle course with psychological elements and a tank used on a shooting range in the Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 26 May 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade /Handout)
A handout photo made available by the press service of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade shows new recruits of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade attending their training on an obstacle course with psychological elements and a tank used on a shooting range in the Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 26 May 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade /Handout)
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US and Russia Clash in Public as the Ukraine War Heats Up 

A handout photo made available by the press service of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade shows new recruits of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade attending their training on an obstacle course with psychological elements and a tank used on a shooting range in the Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 26 May 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade /Handout)
A handout photo made available by the press service of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade shows new recruits of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade attending their training on an obstacle course with psychological elements and a tank used on a shooting range in the Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 26 May 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA/Press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade /Handout)

The United States and Russia quarreled in public on Wednesday over the intensifying Ukraine war after US President Donald Trump warned that President Vladimir Putin was "playing with fire" and Moscow massed 50,000 troops near a Ukrainian region.

While world leaders bicker over the prospects for peace, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two is heating up fast: swarms of drones are being launched by both sides while Russia is advancing at key points along the front.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said that Putin was playing with fire and cautioned that "REALLY BAD" things would have happened already to Russia if it was not for Trump himself.

"What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.

Top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, dismissed Trump's criticism.

"Regarding Trump's words about Putin 'playing with fire' and 'really bad things' happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!" Medvedev wrote in English on the social media platform X.

Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, on Wednesday quoted Medvedev's post and said it was reckless.

"Stoking fears of WW III is an unfortunate, reckless comment... and unfitting of a world power," Kellogg said on X.

After speaking to Trump on May 19 for more than two hours, Putin said that he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum which would set out the contours of a peace accord including the timing of a ceasefire.

Kellogg said that Washington awaited Russia's draft of a memorandum on a peace accord. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the next round of talks with Ukraine would be announced soon.

DRONE ATTACKS

Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Russia currently controls just under one fifth of Ukraine. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending.

Russia said it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight while Ukraine said Russia had launched 88 drones and five ballistic missiles.

After Russia ejected Ukrainian forces from the western Kursk region, Moscow's forces have pushed over the border into neighboring Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine and taken several villages there.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia has gathered 50,000 troops near the northern Sumy region, but added that Kyiv had taken steps to prevent Moscow from conducting a large-scale offensive there.

Putin has repeatedly said he wants a "buffer zone" along Russia's border with Ukraine.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said that the US-led NATO military alliance was using the Ukrainian crisis to build up its presence across eastern Europe and the Baltic, but that Russia was advancing along the entire front in Ukraine.



Heavy Downpours in South Korea Kill 14 and 12 Others Missing

This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
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Heavy Downpours in South Korea Kill 14 and 12 Others Missing

This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)
This handout photo taken on July 19, 2025 and released by Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department via Yonhap shows a rescue member standing on a mud-covered road after a landslide hit a village in southern Sancheong county as heavy rain continued to pound the country. (Photo by Handout / Gyeongsangnam-do Fire Department / AFP)

Torrential rains that slammed South Korea for five days have left 14 people dead and 12 others missing, the government said Sunday.

One person was killed on Sunday after their house collapsed during heavy rain and another person was found dead after being swept by a swollen stream in Gapyeong, a town northeast of Seoul, the Interior and Safety Ministry said.

The ministry said eight people were discovered dead and six others were reported missing in the southern town of Sancheong on Saturday after heavy downpours caused landslides, house collapses and flash floods there.

A ministry report said that six people remain missing in Gapyeong and the southern city of Gwangju, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier last week, three people were found dead in a submerged car, and a person was also killed when their car was buried by soil and concrete after a retaining wall of an overpass collapsed in Osan, just south of Seoul, during heavy rain.

As of 9 a.m. on Sunday, about 3,840 people remain evacuated from their homes, the ministry report said. The rain stopped in most of South Korea on Sunday, and heavy rain alerts have been subsequently lifted throughout the country, ministry officials said.

Since Wednesday, southern regions have received about 600-800 millimeters (24-31 inches) of rain, according to the ministry report.