Russia began a wide assault of drones and raids in Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least four people, officials said after US President Donald Trump doubted the desire of Russian President Vladimir Putin until the end of the war.
Three people died and four were injured on raids on Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, said the regional prosecutor's office. Another person died, and a 14-year-old girl was injured by a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnpropetrovsk region, which was affected by the third night, said Serhi Lysak's governor.
The attacks took place a few hours after Russia claimed that it regained control over the other parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces took an unexpected invasion in August 2924. Ukrainian officials said that the fights in Kursk were still ongoing.
Trump said on Saturday that he doubts Putin wants to end over a three -year war, expressing new skepticism that a peace agreement can be achieved soon. Only the day before, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to the contract.”
“There was no reason for Putin to shoot bullets at civil areas, cities and towns in the last few days,” wrote Trump in social media when he returned to the United States after taking part in the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican, where he briefly met with the President of the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also suggested further sanctions against Russia.
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Trump-Zelensky's conversation was the first face to face meeting between two leaders since their heated oval office in the White House on February 28.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that on Sunday the coming week would be “very critical” and that the US would have to “determine if this is an undertaking in which we want to be still involved.”
He asked on the NBC Meet the press Rubio emphasized the need to be “adult and realistic” about possible concessions to Russia.
“There is no military solution to this war. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement in which both sides will have to give up something that, as they say, want to give the other party something they would like not to do it,” he said.
Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia fired 149 exploding drones and lure in the last wave of attacks, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 blocked.
One person was wounded with drone attacks on the Odesa region, and the other was injured in the city of Zhytomyr. On Sunday, local officials said that four people were also injured in a Russian raid in the city of Kherson.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia has announced that air defense shot down five Ukrainian drones in the Bryańsk border region, as well as three drones on the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Five people were injured when the Ukrainian forces sentenced the city of Horlivka in a partially occupied region of Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, the mayor of the Russian installed.