Russia launched a massive drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, striking numerous regions as President Donald Trump publicly cast new doubts over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to bring an end to the ongoing war. The Ukrainian military reported that 149 drones and decoys were deployed in the offensive, describing it as one of the most extensive air assaults to date. Of those, Ukrainian forces said 57 drones were intercepted and another 67 were jammed before reaching their targets.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian strikes killed one person and wounded a 14-year-old girl in the industrial city of Pavlohrad, which has now endured three consecutive nights of bombardment, according to regional Governor Serhii Lysak. Additional attacks in the southern Odesa region and the city of Zhytomyr also left civilians injured, local officials said. Meanwhile, a Russian airstrike in Kherson early Sunday wounded four more people, underscoring the continuing toll on civilian populations as the conflict grinds into its fourth year.
The surge in violence came just hours after Russia claimed to have reasserted full control over parts of the Kursk region, territory that had been seized by Ukrainian forces during a surprise counteroffensive last August. However, Ukrainian officials disputed Russia’s assertion, saying fierce fighting in the contested areas was still underway.
As the battlefield situation intensified, President Donald Trump offered a stark reassessment of the prospects for peace. Speaking Saturday as he returned to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, Trump said he doubted Putin’s sincerity about ending the war. In a social media post, Trump noted the recent Russian missile attacks on civilian areas, saying, “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities, and towns over the last few days.” The comment came less than a day after Trump had indicated optimism that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal,” highlighting the shifting dynamics as diplomatic efforts falter.
Trump also hinted at the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on Russia, suggesting that pressure on Moscow could intensify if peace efforts continue to stall. His remarks followed a brief but significant meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Vatican funeral—the first face-to-face conversation between the two leaders since their tense encounter during a White House meeting in February.
In response to Ukraine’s continued pressure on Russian positions, Moscow’s Defense Ministry reported that its air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk border region and three others over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Meanwhile, in the Russian-occupied city of Horlivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, five civilians were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the area, according to Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko.
The developments highlight the escalating cycle of military actions and counteractions between the two nations, while political tensions between Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington continue to complicate the search for a negotiated end to one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts in decades.
