Donald Trump told donors he threatened Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin with bombings

In recordings from a private gathering of donors during last year’s election campaign, President Trump reveals Putin and Mr Xi ‘10 per cent believed’ his warnings.

Donald Trump told his wealthy donors that he had threatened Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump told a group of his cashed-up political donors he had threatened Xi Jinping that he would “bomb the shit” out of Beijing if China invaded Taiwan.

In leaked audio from a private gathering of donors to the US President's 2024 election campaign, published by CNN, Mr Trump said he had issued the same warning to Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.

“With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the shit out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice’,” Mr Trump said, according to the audio.

“And then (Putin) goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you’. But he believed me 10 per cent.

“I said the same thing to (President Xi), I said, ‘if you go into Taiwan I am going to bomb the shit out of you’. He thought I was crazy … and we never had a problem.”

The release of the audio, recorded before the November 2024 election, came as Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine on Wednesday, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks.

Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences by launching major attacks that include increasing numbers of decoy drones. The most recent one appeared aimed at disrupting Ukraine’s vital supply of Western weapons.

The city of Lutsk, home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, was the hardest hit, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It lies in western Ukraine near the border with Poland, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid.

The attack comes at a time of increased uncertainty over the supply of crucial American weapons and as US-led peace efforts have stalled. Mr Zelensky said the Kremlin was “making a point” with it.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces took aim at Ukrainian air bases and that “all the designated targets have been hit”. Meanwhile, Ukraine fired drones into Russia overnight, killing three people, officials said.

Biggest attack of the war

The Russian attack, which included 728 drones and 13 missiles, featured the largest number of drones fired in a single night in the war. On Friday, Russia fired 550 drones, less than a week after it launched 477, both the largest at the time, officials said.

Beyond Lutsk, 10 regions were struck. One person was killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, and two wounded in the Kyiv region, officials said.

Poland scrambled its fighter jets and put its armed forces on the highest level of alert in response to the attack, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command wrote in an X post.

Trump says US must send more weapons to Ukraine

Mr Trump said on Tuesday he was “not happy” with Putin, who hasn’t budged from his ceasefire and peace demands since Mr Trump took office in January and began to push for a settlement.

Mr Trump said on Monday the US would have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after Washington paused critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelensky meets Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a visit to Italy ahead of an international conference on rebuilding Ukraine. (Vatican Media/AFP)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Trump “has quite a tough style in terms of the phrasing he uses”, adding that Moscow hopes to “continue our dialogue with Washington and our course aimed at repairing the badly damaged bilateral ties”.

Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, urged Ukraine’s partners to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil and those who help finance the Kremlin’s war by buying it.

“Everyone who wants peace must act,” Mr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader met Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a visit to Italy ahead of an international conference on rebuilding Ukraine.