Airstrike in Donetsk kills three while drone attack in Dnipro leaves one dead, according to local sources
Russia has continued its assault on Ukraine with a series of drone attacks and airstrikes, hours after US president Donald Trump cast doubt on Vladimir Putin’s readiness to end the conflict.
Three people were killed and four were wounded on Sunday morning in airstrikes on Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. In a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipro region, a person was killed and a 14-year-old girl was wounded after a third consecutive night of assaults, local governor Serhii Lysak said.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio described the coming week as “very critical” for US attempts to end the war, telling broadcaster NBC that the administration would need to “make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in”.
He was speaking after what was described in diplomatic circles as a potentially historic meeting between Ukraine’s leader, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and US president Donald Trump, albeit only a 15-minute conversation, on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.
In a social media post sent during his flight back to the US afterwards, Trump suggested Russia was not committed to negotiating a ceasefire.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” he wrote.
