Donald Trump has issued a rare rebuke to Moscow for an air attack that killed 12 people in Kyiv, telling the Russian president in a social media post: “Vladimir, STOP!”
The US president’s remarks come as he makes a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia that include recognition of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, something the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he cannot accept.
Trump told reporters in Washington: “I have my own deadline,” amid speculation he wants to have a ceasefire agreed before his 100th day in office on 30 April. He repeatedly claimed during his election campaign that he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office.
The US president insisted that he was applying pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war, claiming that an agreement by Moscow not to take over the entire country would be a “pretty big concession”.
“We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that,” he said.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told CBS news the Kremlin was ready to “reach a deal” with the US on Ukraine, but there are some “elements of this deal which need to be fine tuned”.
The attack on Kyiv was the biggest and most deadly this year. Two children were among the dead and at least 90 people were injured. Russia also carried out strikes against Kharkiv and other cities.
Waves of drones as well as ballistic and guided missiles struck the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday. There were explosions for much of the night, beginning at about 1am local time, and the rattle of anti-aircraft fire as Ukrainian defences tried to shoot the missiles down.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said rescuers searching for survivors had found one man alive and recovered three bodies. Zelenskyy said two of the victims were a brother and a sister, 21-year-old Nikita and 19-year-old Sofia. “To our great regret, there is destruction and loss in our capital,” he said.
The injured included six children and a pregnant woman, with more than 40 people taken to hospital. A house, other buildings and cars were set on fire and extensive damage was caused by falling debris in several districts.
“Russia has launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv,” Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said early on Friday that Russian forces had tried to use mass air strikes as cover for intensified land-based attacks.
“When our forces were concentrating to the maximum on defending against missiles and drones, the Russians went ahead with intensified ground attacks. But they were repelled in worthy fashion,” he said on the Telegram messaging app
Zelenskyy said Russia fired a North Korean ballistic missile at an apartment block in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district. Video showed the missile, which Reuters said was a North Korean KN-23, plunging into the building, followed by a huge orange explosion and a boom.
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said a big rescue operation was under way at the scene of the strike, involving dogs and engineering teams. “Mobile phones can be heard ringing under the ruins. The search will continue until everybody is got out. We have information about two children who cannot be found at the scene of the incident,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, drones could be seen buzzing in the sky above the north-east Kharkiv region and flying over a forest. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, was hit by seven missiles and 12 kamikaze drones in strikes throughout the night as black smoke plumed overhead.
According to Kharkiv’s mayor, several private houses, a factory and a high-rise apartment block were hit. “One of the most recent strikes hit a densely populated residential area. Two people were injured there,” Ihor Terekhov said, urging people to be careful.
On Thursday Trump posted on Truth Social: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”
The day before, he had lashed out at Zelenskyy for failing to support a US “peace plan” in which Crimea and other Ukrainian territories would be handed to Russia.
Trump accused Ukraine’s president of prolonging the “killing field” and making “very harmful” statements. Zelenskyy has ruled out recognising Crimea as Russian and says a complete ceasefire is needed before any settlement can be discussed.
Zelenskyy said he was cutting short a trip to South Africa because of the attack. “It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes … And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people,” Zelensky said in a post on X. “The strikes must be stopped immediately and unconditionally.”
According to Bloomberg, Washington will push back on Russia’s demand that Ukraine is “demilitarised” as a part of a peace deal. The news agency said the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would insist during his next meeting with Putin that Kyiv has its own army and defence industry.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said Russia’s “maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace”.
He added: “Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied. Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he does not respect any peace efforts and only wants to continue the war. Weakness and concessions will not stop his terror and aggression. Only strength and pressure will.”
Posting on social media as Russian bombs fell around them, Ukrainians criticised Trump’s one-sided approach and his apparent indifference to Ukrainian civilian casualties. The massive attack suggested the Kremlin was not remotely interested in peace, they suggested.
Olga Rudenko, the editor of the Kyiv Independent newspaper, wrote on social media: “Can’t begin to explain how surreal it is to be sitting on the floor in the safest place of my apartment hearing an extremely loud Russian missile+drone attack – after having spent entire day discussing and editing coverage of the US effectively demanding Ukraine’s surrender.”
Euan MacDonald, a freelance journalist, said: “Great big bang in Kyiv, and another – incoming missiles. Shaheds also in city, just heard anti-aircraft guns. And two more big bangs just as I write … Not been this noisy for a while.”
There were further attacks in the cities of Pavlohrad and Zhytomyr, as well as in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In Kyiv, some residents spent a sleepless night in the subway, which doubles as a missile shelter. According to the photographer Kostyantyn Liberov, Shahed drones struck the same district twice as rescuers and civilians were trying to free a young woman who was trapped in a collapsed building.
“Honey, we’ll get you out no matter what. We’re right here,” one of the rescuers reassured her as a Shahed drone buzzed overhead, Liberov reported.
Anton Shtuka, a videographer who filmed the difficult rescue operation, said: “Sometimes it looks like these strikes hit our homes because Putin feels US support and begins to pressure Ukraine even more.” He added, ironically: “Thank you, partners.”
Kyiv was last hit by missiles in early April, when at least three people were hurt. It has been the target of sporadic attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said: “Putin shows only a desire to kill. The attacks on civilians must stop.”
