President Donald Trump on Thursday offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
“I’m not joyful with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not mandatory, and really bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers per week are dying,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Russia struck Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. Not less than nine people were killed and greater than 70 injured within the deadliest assault on town since last July. The strikes took place just as peace efforts are coming to a head.
Trump’s frustration is growing as a U.S.-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress.
Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and accused him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to give up the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as a part of a possible deal.
Zelenskyy has repeated again and again throughout the war that began when Russia invaded in February 2022 that recognizing occupied territory as Russia’s is a red line for Ukraine.
Trump is ready to fulfill later Thursday with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to debate the war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs and other issues.
Zelenskyy said after the attack he’s cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home as town reeled from the bombardment that kept residents on edge for about 11 hours, and Zelenskyy branded it as “considered one of (Russia’s) most outrageous.”
Damaged cars lie in a yard with other debris after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced that Friday could be an official day of mourning day within the capital.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 66 ballistic and cruise missiles, 4 plane-launched air-to-surface missiles, and 145 Shahed and decoy drones at Kyiv and 4 other regions of Ukraine. Rescue employees with flashlights scoured the charred rubble of partly collapsed homes because the blue lights of emergency vehicles lit up the dark city streets.
Zelenskyy says way forward for negotiations relies on Moscow
Zelenskyy has repeated again and again throughout the greater than three-year war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a primary step to a negotiated peace, but that Russia’s attacks had continued.
He said in South Africa that the most recent attack meant the long run of negotiations “relies on Russia’s intention since it is in Moscow where they should make a choice.”
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While talks have been happening in recent weeks, Russia has hit town of Sumy, killing greater than 30 civilians gathered to have fun Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the attack underscored that the fundamental obstacle to ending the war is Russia.
“While claiming to hunt peace, Russia launched a deadly airstrike on Kyiv,” she wrote on social media. “This isn’t a pursuit of peace, it’s a mockery of it.”
Senior U.S. officials have warned that the Trump administration could soon surrender its efforts to stop the war if the 2 sides don’t compromise.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack showed Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to press his larger army’s advantage on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where it currently holds the momentum.
Rescue employees carry the body of a victim found under the rubble after a Russian strike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko).
“Putin demonstrates through his actions, not words, that he doesn’t respect any peace efforts and only desires to proceed the war,” Sybiha said on X. “Weakness and concessions won’t stop his terror and aggression. Only strength and pressure will.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russian attacks haves killed some 13,000 civilians, including 618 children.
Kyiv residents spent the night in shelters
Not less than 42 people were hospitalized following the attack on residential suburbs of Kyiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
At a Kyiv residential constructing that was almost entirely destroyed, emergency employees removed rubble with their hands, rescuing a trapped woman who emerged from the wreckage covered in white dust and moaning in pain.
An elderly woman sat against a brick wall, face smeared with blood, her eyes fixed to the bottom in shock as medics tended to her wounds.
Fires were reported in several residential buildings said Tymur Tkachenko, the top of town military administration.
The attack, which began around 1 a.m., hit not less than five neighborhoods in Kyiv.
Oksana Bilozir, a student, suffered a head injury within the attack. With blood seeping from her bandaged head, she said that she heard a loud explosion after the air alarm blared and started to grab her things to flee to a shelter when one other blast caused her home’s partitions to crumble and the lights to go off.
Local residents react at the location of an apartment constructing hit by a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).
“I truthfully don’t even know the way this can all end, it’s very scary,” said Bilozir, referring to the war against Russia’s invasion. “I only consider that if we are able to stop them on the battlefield, then that’s it. No diplomacy works here.”
The attack kept many individuals awake all night long as multiple loud explosions reverberated around town and flashes of sunshine punctuated the sky. Families gathered in public air raid shelters, a few of them bringing their pet cat and dog.
Zelenskyy coming back from South Africa
Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he would fly back to Kyiv after meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Ukrainian leader had hoped to recruit further South African support in efforts to finish his country’s war with Russia, now in its fourth yr.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Kyiv attack was “one more appalling violation of international humanitarian law.”
“Civilians must not ever be targets. This senseless use of force must stop,” it said in an announcement.
Anastasiia Zhuravlova, 33, a mother of two, was sheltering in a basement after multiple blasts damaged her home. Her family was sleeping when the primary explosion shattered their windows and sent kitchen appliances flying within the air. Shards of glass rained down on them as they rushed to take cover within the corridor.
Ukrainian searchers clear the rubble after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky).
“After that we got here to the shelter since it was scary and dangerous at home,” she said.
In Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district, the attack flattened a two-story residential constructing and heavily damaged nearby multi-story buildings. Rescue work continued through the morning.
At a close-by school-turned-relief center, children helped parents cover blown-out windows with plastic while others queued for presidency compensation. Many stood in blood-stained clothes, still shaken.
—Associated Press journalist Michelle Gumede in Pretoria, South Africa contributed to this report.
