President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday that "Crimea will stay with Russia," the latest example of the US leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. "Zelensky understands that," Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time."
The US president made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted on Tuesday. Trump has been accusing Zelensky of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "They've had their submarines there for long before any period that we're talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea," Trump said. "But this was given by Obama. This wasn't given by Trump."
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February. The Kremlin released a short video of Putin and Witkoff greeting each other. "How are you, Mr. President?" Witkoff could be heard saying. "Fine, just fine, thank you," Putin responded in rare remarks in English, as the two shook hands.
Meanwhile, Russia has continued its bombardment. A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukraine city, killing three people and injuring 10 others, officials said Friday, a day after Trump rebuked Russia's leader for a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv. A child and a 76-year-old woman were among the civilians killed in the nighttime drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine's air force reported. Authorities in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
Russia pounded Kyiv in an hourslong barrage Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 87 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July. The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin from Trump, who has said that a push to end the war is coming to a head. "I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying." Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. "Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!"