Overnight on Sunday, Russia launched a widespread drone and airstrike assault across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring several others, according to officials.
This major escalation happened just as U.S. President Donald Trump publicly expressed doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to seek peace.
Fatal Attacks Across Ukraine
According to regional authorities, three people were killed and four others wounded early Sunday during airstrikes in the Donetsk region, particularly in the city of Kostyantynivka. In a separate incident, one person died and a 14-year-old girl was injured during a drone strike in Pavlohrad city in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Serhii Lysak, the local governor, reported that Dnipropetrovsk has now endured three straight nights of attacks.
These latest strikes followed Russia’s announcement that it had regained full control over parts of the Kursk region, territory that Ukrainian forces had captured during a surprise offensive last August. However, Ukrainian officials said that fighting in the Kursk region is still ongoing.
Trump’s Skepticism About Peace Efforts
President Donald Trump, returning to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, voiced growing doubts about a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump wrote, “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.” This statement came just a day after he had suggested that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”
During his time at the Vatican, Trump briefly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Their encounter made headlines as it marked the first time the two leaders had met since a tense meeting a few months ago at the White House. Trump also hinted that the U.S. may consider imposing new sanctions on Russia if the attacks continue.
Scale of the Russian Assault
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that a total of 149 drones and decoy weapons were fired by Russia during the night. They said that 57 were intercepted and another 67 were jammed before reaching their targets.
Local officials across Ukraine reported further injuries, including one person wounded in the Odesa region and another in the Zhytomyr area. In Kherson city, four people were wounded following a Russian airstrike on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones near the Bryansk border and three more near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Russian-installed officials in Horlivka, a city in the partially occupied Donetsk region, also said that five people were wounded after Ukrainian forces shelled the area.