WASHINGTON — President Trump warned Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “playing with fire” — days after he called the dictator “absolutely crazy” over repeated aerial attacks against Ukraine.

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He’s playing with fire!”

The Russian military unleashed its largest drone attack since the start of the invasion in February of 2022 this past weekend, sending 367 drones and missiles into Ukraine on Sunday night alone.

Between Friday and Sunday, Russia launched about 900 drones at Ukraine, officials said. The pace of attacks slowed from Monday to Tuesday, when Ukraine’s air force said Moscow’s forces had launched just 60 drones.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its defenses downed 99 Ukrainian drones overnight over seven Russian regions.

Russia also took control of four villages in the northern region of Sumy, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov announced on Monday, creating a “buffer zone” to prevent cross-border attacks by Kyiv’s forces.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region, where a surprise Ukrainian incursion last year captured a pocket of land in the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.

Trump has been trying to negotiate a peace deal with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for months, but has expressed increasing frustration with both leaders.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “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.”

He later wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY!”

“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!” the president added.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in response, indicated that Trump’s “emotions” may be getting in the way — a rare direct rebuke of the US president.

“We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organising and launching this negotiation process,” Peskov said Monday. “At the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”

Meanwhile, Trump and allies in his administration have accused Zelensky of trying to negotiate a peace deal through the press.

“Likewise, President Zelensky is doing his country no favors by talking the way he does,” Trump wrote in his Sunday Truth Social post. “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”

Trump, 78, has still maintained that there is room to strike a deal with Putin and that the Russian despot does want to see peace.

The president held back-to-back phone calls with Zelensky and Putin May 19 to discuss establishing a ceasefire and came away feeling positive about the talks — despite the Russian leader not automatically agreeing to pause the war. 

The president attempted to get both leaders to meet face-to-face in Turkey on May 15, but Putin ultimately declined to travel.

Officials from both countries did meet in Istanbul and discussed pathways to laying out terms for a cease-fire, as well as potential dates to meet again. 

Trump himself has indicated that no progress may come until he and Putin meet face-to-face, but no plans for such a meeting have been drawn up yet.

With Post wires