STORY: "At this point, we are working on President Putin."

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Russian President Vladimir Putin may be intentionally delaying negotiations on a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine and expressed disappointment at Russian bombing.

TRUMP: "We're going to find out whether or not he's tapping us along or not. And if he is, will respond a little bit differently. // I'm very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation. I'm very disappointed by that."

When asked by a reporter what was stopping him from imposing new sanctions on Russia, Trump said he didn't want to scuttle a potential peace deal.

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"If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that."

Trump's remarks in the Oval Office came as the United States and Russia quarreled in public over the intensifying Ukraine war.

Trump warned in a social media post that Putin was "playing with fire."

Afterward, Putin's foreign policy aide told a state TV reporter that Trump's remark suggested that he is not well-informed on the realities of the war.

Meanwhile, the war intensified.

Russia said it had downed nearly 300 Ukrainian drones overnight while Ukraine said Russia had launched almost 90 drones and five ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia also gathered 50,000 troops near the northern Sumy region.

Zelenskiy was in Berlin on Wednesday meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who pledged to support Ukraine in producing long-range missiles to bolster its defenses.

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In a joint press conference, Zelenskiy said Russia was persistently searching for reasons to delay talks to end the war.

"They do not want to hold talks in neutral Geneva, but they want to have them in NATO member state which is Turkey. You see? It is not about which country will host talks and which alliance it belongs to. It is all about Putin and their desire to postpone. They are constantly looking for reasons to postpone a format which can bring an end to the war."

After speaking to Trump on May 19, Putin said he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum which would set out the framework of a peace deal.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia proposed holding the next round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2 with the aim of achieving a sustainable peace settlement.

Ukraine responded, urging Russia to share its memorandum on peace without delay, so that a meeting in Istanbul "won’t be empty and can truly move us closer to ending the war."