Russia launched one of the most devastating bombardments on Ukraine's major cities since the war began overnight Thursday, killing at least 12 people, hours after President Donald Trump said he believed he had struck deals with both sides to end the war.
“Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the attacks, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,” Trump said. “5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Trump told reporters Thursday he believed Putin would listen to his plea to halt strikes on Ukraine. He said that while there was “a lot of hatred,” “bad blood” and “disgust” between Ukraine and Russia, they both wanted peace, “but they have to get to the table.” He said he believes both sides will ultimately reach a peace agreement and added that he wants it to happen quickly.
At a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office later Thursday with Norway's prime minister, Trump said he "didn’t like last night. I wasn’t happy with it, and we’re in the midst of talking peace, and missiles were fired, and I was not happy with it."
Asked whether he would consider additional sanctions on Russia if it keeps bombing Ukraine, he said: "I'd rather answer that question in a week. I want to see if we can have a deal. ... No reason to answer it now, but I won’t be happy. Let me put it that way — things will happen.”
Trump said the United States is putting pressure on both sides, especially Russia, saying, “You have to have two to tango.”
Asked whether Ukraine would have to give away some territory to secure a peace deal, he said: "It depends what territory they've been fighting. They’ve lost a lot of territory, and we’ll do the best we can, working with Ukraine, we’ll do the best we can, but they lost a lot of territory."
Trump said it would be "very difficult" for Ukraine to get back Crimea, the peninsula that Russia took control of during the Obama administration, which he falsely claimed President Barack Obama to Russia.
Trump said Russia has offered concessions in the talks, including "stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country," which he described as a "pretty big concession."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in the Oval Office with Trump, said that the United States has shown a "pathway forward" and that negotiations will continue over the weekend. "We've shown them the finish line. We need both of them to say yes, but what happened last night with those missile strikes should remind everybody of why this war needs to end."
The missile strikes caused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cut short a trip to South Africa. He said he would return home immediately to deal with the “destruction” in his country.
“Russia continues to kill people and avoid tough pressure and accountability for this,” he said Thursday. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of destruction. Rescue operations are ongoing; the rubble of buildings is being cleared.”
The capital, Kyiv, was pummeled with 70 missiles, 48 of which were shot down, and 140 drones, 64 of them shot down, Ukraine’s air force said. It was “a particularly horrible and loud night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a statement.
The death toll has risen to 12, Ukrainian officials said after they recovered two bodies from under the rubble. Ninety people were injured.
Yevheniia Sobolieva, 23, an interpreter and event manager in Kyiv, told NBC News that the overnight explosions shook her walls and slammed the doors shut in her apartment, sending her and other panicked residents into the corridor as more missiles fell.
Outside, the air was filled with smoke and ash, and the street was scattered with broken glass. Sobolieva ran to take shelter at a nearby metro station, which she said was so full of people that it was like “the first days of the full-scale invasion.”
Bombs also fell in the county’s second city, Kharkiv, where Mayor Ihor Terekhov urged residents to “be careful!”
The attacks follow the latest conflicting and often contradictory statements in the U.S.-brokered peace talks.
On Wednesday, Trump said in the Oval Office that “I think we have a deal with both” sides — before he suggested that an agreement with Ukraine was still pending.
“I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy,” he said. “So far, it’s been harder.”
Earlier in the day, Trump launched his latest criticism of Zelenskyy on Truth Social, accusing him of making “inflammatory statements” — a reference to a Wall Street Journal interview in which Zelenskyy pushed back against Washington's peace plan — and said of a deal that Zelenskyy needs to “GET IT DONE.”
The White House is trying to push Ukraine to accept a deal with Russia even though it would set terms that Kyiv deems deeply unfavorable. High-level talks in the United Kingdom disintegrated this week after Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out, leaving lower-level ministers to meet, instead.
Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt Gen. Keith Kellogg, who was part of the talks, told NBC News that “talks in London yesterday were candid, constructive and productive.”
Visiting South Africa, Zelenskyy said at a news conference that a document drafted at the talks “is on President Trump’s table.” He again lamented Thursday that “we do not see strong pressure on Russia and new sanctions for its aggression.”
Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow this week to speak with Putin about the talks, the White House said Tuesday.
Gauging Russian support for the war is difficult given the brutality with which Putin’s regime silences dissent and political opposition. Even so, a running survey by Moscow’s Levada Center pollster found the overwhelming majority — 80% as of February — support the invasion in some capacity.
Canvassing opinion on the streets of Moscow found some differences of opinion.
“No deals. Let them get what they deserve,” said Evgeniy, 66, a retiree. Tatyana, 50, said she was in “favor of ceasefire because so many people are suffering.” Both declined to give their last names in Russia's repressive atmosphere.
For Ukrainians and their supporters abroad, Thursday's attacks symbolized the hypocrisy of Russia’s position. Putin continues to make extreme demands — his conditions for a deal essentially resemble a Ukrainian surrender — while he continues to prosecute the invasion he launched three years ago.
Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Kyiv’s “inability to negotiate is becoming increasingly obvious.”
Zelenskyy and members of his government say they will never accept Russian control over Crimea, a key demand of the Kremlin's.
“Yesterday’s Russian maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace,” said Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister. “Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied.”
Alexander Smith reported from London, Rebecca Shabad from Washington, Daryna Mayer and Artem Grudinin from Kyiv and Keir Simmons from Dubai.
