Russia launches nearly 150 drones against Ukraine as Trump says he
doubts Putin's desire for peace
[April 28, 2025]
By VOLODYMYR YURCHUK and ELISE MORTON
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and
airstrikes across Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least four people,
officials said, after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt over
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war.
Three people died and four were wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka
in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the regional prosecutor's
office said. Another person died and a 14-year-old girl was wounded in a
drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region,
which was hit for the third consecutive night, Gov. Serhii Lysak said.
The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control
over the remaining parts of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces
seized in a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukrainian officials said
the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing.
Trump said Saturday he doubts Putin wants to end the more than
3-year-old war, expressing new skepticism a peace deal can be reached
soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “ 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 post as he flew back to the U.S. after attending the
funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, where he met briefly with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also hinted at further
sanctions against Russia.
On Sunday evening, as he left his golf club in New Jersey, Trump told
reporters he remained “disappointed” in Russia's attacks. Trump said of
Putin: "I want him to stop shooting, sit down and make a deal.”
Asked what he would do if Russia does not stop its attacks, Trump
replied: “I have a lot of things that I can do.”
The Vatican Trump-Zelenskyy conversation was the first face-to-face
encounter between the two leaders since their heated Oval Office meeting
at the White House on Feb. 28.
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A Ukrainian tank passes by a burning car near the Russian-Ukrainian
border in the Sumy region of Ukraine, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy
Maloletka, File)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the coming week
would be “very critical," and that the U.S. would need to “make a
determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to
continue to be involved in.”
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about possible concessions to
Russia, Rubio emphasized the need to be “grownups 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 said.
Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of
attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were
intercepted and another 67 jammed.
One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one
other was hurt in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also
wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday,
local officials said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down five Ukrainian
drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over
the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in
2014.
Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of
Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, said the
Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko.
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Morton reported from London. Nicholas Riccardi in Bridgewater, New
Jersey contributed to this report.
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