Ukraine says Russia kills three in another drone attack
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump condemned Vladimir Putin for Russia’s continued onslaught against Ukraine.
Three people have died and 10 others are injured after a Russian drone struck a residential building in a south-eastern Ukrainian city, officials said on Friday.
The attack comes a day after US President Donald Trump rebuked Russia’s leader for a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv while Washington endeavors to stop the more than three-year war.
Among the civilians killed in the night-time drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, were a child and a 76-year-old woman, the head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported. Authorities in the north-eastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
Russia pounded Kyiv in an hours-long barrage on Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 87 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July.
The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin from Mr Trump, who has said that efforts to end the war are coming to a head.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying,” Mr Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform, adding: “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Mr Trump’s frustration is growing as his effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has failed to make a breakthrough. Senior US officials have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to an agreement.
But Mr Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday that the US and Russia have “had very good talks, and we’re getting very close to a deal”.
US envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet with Mr Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February.
Addressing a key sticking point in the negotiations, Mr Trump said “Crimea will stay with Russia” under a US-brokered settlement, according to the interview transcript.
The interview took place on Tuesday, the magazine said.
Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plan to arrive in Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square on Saturday. It was not immediately clear if they would meet separately.
Meanwhile, a senior Russian military officer was killed by a car bomb near Moscow on Friday, Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said.
The attack follows the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov on December 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the killing of Lt Gen Kirillov.
Since Russia invaded, several prominent figures have been killed in targeted attacks believed to have been carried out by Ukraine.
Russian forces used Thursday’s Kyiv attack as cover to launch almost 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly 620-mile front line, Mr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday.
“When the maximum of our forces was focused on defence against missiles and drones, the Russians went on to significantly intensify their ground attacks,” he wrote on Telegram.
Western European leaders have accused Mr Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum.
Mr Trump accused Mr Zelenskyy of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014. Mr Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the war that recognising occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.
Mr Zelensky noted on Thursday that Ukraine agreed to a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russian attacks continued.
During recent talks, Russia hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
