As Trump questions Putin’s will for peace, Russia launches deadly strikes across Ukraine

Russia strikes Ukraine; Trump questions Putin’s intentions for ending war.

Russia launched a major wave of drone and airstrikes across Ukraine early on Sunday, killing at least four people, according to Ukrainian officials. The attacks came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed scepticism about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war, which has now raged for over three years.

Three people were killed and four others wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, the regional prosecutor's office said. In a separate incident, a drone assault on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and injured a 14-year-old girl, regional governor Serhii Lysak reported. Pavlohrad was struck for the third consecutive night.

The surge in attacks followed Russia’s claim that it had fully regained control of the Kursk region’s areas seized by Ukrainian forces in a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukrainian officials, however, said that fighting there remained ongoing.

US President Trump, who was returning to the United States after attending Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican, where he briefly met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, voiced disappointment with Russia’s actions. Writing on social media, Trump stated: “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.” He hinted that further sanctions against Russia might follow if the violence continued.

Speaking to reporters outside his New Jersey golf club on Sunday evening, Trump said he remained "disappointed" in Russia’s recent attacks. "I want him to stop shooting, sit down and make a deal," he said of Putin. When asked what action he might take if Russia persisted, Trump replied: “I have a lot of things that I can do.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the coming week as “very critical”, suggesting that the United States would soon need to decide whether it would continue supporting Ukraine at current levels. Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Rubio stressed the importance of being "grownups and realistic," saying, “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.”

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 149 explosive drones and decoys during the latest assault. Of these, 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed.

Additional drone attacks wounded civilians in the Odesa and Zhytomyr regions, and four people were injured in a Russian airstrike on Kherson. Russia also claimed to have shot down Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk region and Crimea. In Horlivka, five people were reported wounded by Ukrainian shelling, according to Russian-installed officials.

(With inputs from AP)