KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and airstrikes throughout Ukraine early Sunday, killing at the very least 4 folks, officers mentioned, after U.S. President Donald Trump solid doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to finish the struggle.
Three folks died and 4 had been wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka within the Donetsk area of jap Ukraine, the regional prosecutor’s workplace mentioned. One other particular person died and a 14-year-old woman was wounded in a drone assault on the town of Pavlohrad within the Dnipropetrovsk area, which was hit for the third consecutive evening, Gov. Serhii Lysak mentioned.
The assaults got here hours after Russia claimed to have regained management over the remaining components of the Kursk area that Ukrainian forces seized in a shock incursion in August 2924. Ukrainian officers mentioned the combating in Kursk was ongoing.
Trump mentioned Saturday that he doubts Putin needs to finish the greater than 3-year-old struggle, expressing new skepticism {that a} peace deal might be reached quickly. Solely a day earlier, Trump had mentioned Ukraine and Russia had been “very close to a deal.”
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote in a social media publish as he flew again to the U.S. after attending the funeral of Pope Francis on the Vatican, the place he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump additionally hinted at additional sanctions towards Russia.
The Trump-Zelenskyy dialog was the primary face-to-face encounter between the 2 leaders since their heated Oval Workplace assembly on the White Home on Feb. 28.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned Sunday that the approaching week could be “very critical” and that the U.S. would want to “make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in.”
Requested on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about doable concessions to Russia, Rubio emphasised the should be “grown-ups and realistic.”
“There is no military solution to this war. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didn’t,” he mentioned.
Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys within the newest wave of assaults, the Ukrainian air pressure mentioned, including that 57 had been intercepted and one other 67 jammed.
