Ukraine Suffers Deadliest Attack After Trump’s Remarks

Ukraine has endured its most intense aerial onslaught since the start of the war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, with 728 drones and 13 missiles launched in several coordinated waves across major cities.

Zelensky denounced the “telling attack”, adding: “It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all.”

The barrage happened shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that military assistance to Ukraine would resume reversing a previously paused shipment that, according to some reports, he had not initially been briefed on.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Trump showed increasing dissatisfaction with Russia’s president.

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

“He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” Trump said.

Responding to the remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed the tone: “Trump’s way of talking is generally quite harsh, the phrases he uses.”

Despite continued communication between both presidents, their talks have yet to bring any measurable progress toward halting the war despite Trump’s previous claim that he could end the fighting within 24 hours.

In a separate statement last week, Trump described Putin’s mindset as intractable.

“He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good,” Trump said of Putin.

His criticism came as the administration temporarily halted aid to Kyiv allegedly at the direction of the Defense Secretary and another senior Pentagon official.

When pressed by reporters about who had issued the order, Trump seated beside the Defense Secretary responded: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

Now that the suspension has been lifted, sources say that up to 10 Patriot air defense systems might soon be delivered to Ukraine.

Kyiv depends heavily on these systems to protect against Russia’s increasingly frequent and large-scale missile and drone strikes.

While regions in eastern Ukraine and the capital remain regular targets, western areas of the country have also faced growing assaults.

Lutsk, located just 90 kilometers from the Polish border and serving as a vital route for foreign aid and military supplies, bore the brunt of the most recent attack overnight into Tuesday.

Explosions were also recorded in Rivne and Lviv, two cities further west that had previously seen less frequent bombardment.

Earlier in the year, Ukraine and Russia engaged in two separate attempts at ceasefire negotiations. Since then, no further diplomatic meetings have taken place—and neither side currently seems hopeful that a negotiated settlement is within reach. The war continues, having begun with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Meanwhile, Russian military forces continue pressing forward in Ukraine’s east as part of a sustained summer campaign.

“We are moving forward,” said Peskov on Wednesday. “Each new day the Ukrainians have to accept the new realities.”