Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin pictured at a meeting in Vietnam last November. Relations between the two plunged to a new low Wednesday after Trump vowed to fire missiles at Russian forces in Syria (Picture: Reuters)

Donald Trump has issued a terrifying challenge to Russian president Vladimir Putin after he threatened to shoot down American missiles fired in Syria.

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning: ‘Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria.

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‘Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!”

‘You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!’


But moments later he appeared to cool down the heated rhetoric, writing: ‘Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War.

‘There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?’



The President was speaking after Sunday’s chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma, which killed 40.

Putin-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is suspected of being behind the attack – and Russia earlier warned to shoot down any US missiles fired in the country.

The blood-curdling tweet Donald Trump sent threatening to fire missiles at Vladimir Putin Wednesday morning (Picture: Donald Trump/Twitter)

Chillingly, Russian has also threatened to attack the launch sites of US missiles, raising the specter of an all-out war between the two super-powers.

Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin told al-Manar TV: ‘If there is a strike by the Americans, then we refer to the statements of President [Vladimir] Putin and the chief of staff that the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired.’

He condemned the ‘barbaric’ atrocity Monday, and warned America was considering military action once proof of who had launched the attack had been gathered.

Trump threatened to take action within 48 hours, and speculated that Russia or Iran could have been worked with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to launch the killer gas.

The tweet comes just a week after the president vowed to remove American troops from Syria, prompting a clash with top-level military chiefs which later forced him into a humiliating climb down.

A young victim of Sunday’s chemical attack in Douma, Syria, which is suspected of being the work of Russian-backed President Bashar al-Assad (Picture: Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets)

Trump was outraged after the weekend’s chemical attack on the rebel-held down of Douma in Eastern Damascus. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is suspected of carrying it out, and has been backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin (Picture: Reuters)

A little boy caught in Sunday’s chemical weapon attack in Douma breathes in oxygen, while a girl next to him appears traumatized by what she has witnessed (Picture: Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets/AP)

Speaking at a White House cabinet meeting Monday, Trump said: ‘It was an atrocious attack. It was horrible.

‘You don’t see things like that as bad as the news is around the world.

‘You just don’t see those images. ‘We are studying that situation extremely closely.

‘We are meeting with our military and everyone else, and will be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours.’