BURSTRussia launched drone strikes on Ukraine early Thursday, killing five people — just one day after President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone.
While Trump called the conversation between the two leaders a "good" one, he acknowledged that the hour and 15-minute discussion would not lead to "immediate peace." The continued strikes, he said, were in response to Ukraine's weekend attack on Russian airbases.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces struck the city of Pryluky, in the north-central region of Chernihiv, leading to the fatalities. At least nine others were injured in the blast, The Associated Press reported. Several the victims, per the news wire and the nation's leader, were related to a local rescue team member.
“Unfortunately, his wife, daughter and one-year-old grandson were killed. And this is the 632nd child during the full-scale war,” Zelensky wrote in a Thursday post on Telegram with images of the damage.
He described the event as a terrorist attack that warranted more sanctions on Russia noting that the end of the war will only come through “strength.”
“Russia is constantly trying to buy time for itself to continue the killings. When it does not feel strong enough condemnation and pressure from the world, it kills again,” Zelensky said.
However, Kremlin officials said the drone strike was justified.
"The president described the Kyiv regime as a terrorist regime, because it was the regime's leadership that consciously gave the order, the command, the order to blow up a passenger train,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Sunday’s attack.
Leaders from across the globe have urged Putin to ease conflict on the battlefield to no avail despite direct talks between Russia and Ukraine under the guise of a potential ceasefire.
Trump has warned that his counterpart was “playing with fire” in recent weeks.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump posted late last month on Truth Social. “He’s playing with fire!”
He also suggested the consistent attacks on Ukraine are a sign that Putin has gone “absolutely crazy,” ramping up his criticism of the bloodshed in Eastern Europe.
The Kremlin earlier this week dismissed the likelihood of a meeting anytime soon between Trump, Putin and Zelensky despite Trump's invitation.