Donald Trump begs Putin to agree to ceasefire with two word plea - 'Vladimir STOP!'

has hit out at in light of . The , Truth Social, to express his anger at the Kremlin for refusing to de-escalate the conflict.

He wrote on Thursday: "I am not happy with the strikes on Kyiv. Not necessary, and very bad timing." He then pleaded: "Vladimir, STOP! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal DONE!" The president's latest intervention struck a different tone from his statement on Wednesday, in which he criticised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for .

On Wedbesday, Mr Zelensky said he after the White House proposals for peace included plans for the Kremlin to be formally recognised as the owner of the territory. Dismissing the plans, Mr Zelensky said: "There is nothing to talk about. This violates our constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of ."

In response, Mr Trump said: "It's inflammatory statements like Zelensky's that makes it so difficult to settle this war. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire. He can have peace or he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country."

On Thursday, however, Mr Zelensky was said to be "agreeable to an unconditional ceasefire", according to Cyril Ramaphosa. The comments came during a joint press conference held by the two leaders in Pretoria.

The proposed White House deal would see Ukraine give up sovereignty of Crimea and most of Kherson. Russia would also hold on to most of the territories it occupies and US sanctions would be lifted. Ukraine would get unfettered access to the Dnipro river and a slice of Kherson. The US would manage the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Meanwhile, key Putin ally and head of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu told state news agency TASS that the Kremlin reserved the right to use nuclear weapons if a foreign power showed aggression towards Russia or Belarus. Directly confronting Sir Keir Starmer's "coalition of the willing" plan for peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, the 69-year-old senior officials said: "Sensible politicians in Europe understand that the implementation of such a scenario [putting Western troops on the ground in ] could lead to a direct clash between NATO and and subsequently to World War Three."