Russia launched nearly 150 drones targeting multiple regions across Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian officials have reported, according to Beta/AP.
The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that 149 drones were fired in the latest wave of attacks. Of those, 57 were intercepted and 67 electronically blocked. Despite defensive efforts, civilian casualties occurred:
- In Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region — under attack for the third consecutive night — one person was killed and a 14-year-old girl injured, regional governor Serhiy Lysak announced.
- One person was injured in Ukraine’s Odesa region, and another in Zhytomyr following drone strikes, local officials reported.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that five Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia’s Bryansk border region, and three more over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Additionally, five civilians were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, according to Russian-installed mayor Ivan Prikhodko.
This escalation comes just hours after Moscow claimed it had fully reclaimed parts of its Kursk region previously captured by Ukrainian forces during a surprise offensive last August — a claim Ukrainian officials dispute, asserting that fighting in the Kursk area continues.
Adding to the political tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump commented during his return from Rome — where he attended Pope Francis’ funeral and briefly met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — that he does not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to end the war. This contradicted Trump’s earlier remarks suggesting that Ukraine and Russia were “very close to an agreement.”
“There was no reason for Putin to fire missiles into civilian areas and cities in recent days,” Trump posted on social media, hinting he may consider additional sanctions against Russia.
The brief Trump-Zelensky meeting at the pope’s funeral was their first direct contact since a tense encounter at the White House in February.
