U.S. President Donald Trump has told Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt strikes on Ukraine, after Kyiv was pounded with missiles and drone attacks on April 24.
Hours later, a reporter asked Trump if he thought Putin would acquiesce.
“Yeah, I do,” Trump said as he greeted Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store outside the White House.
The Ukrainian government said that at least nine people were killed and more than 70 injured in the largest attack on the capital since July 2024.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said on its Telegram channel that a number of drones and ballistic missiles had hit the city.
Rescue operations are ongoing on April 24 in an effort to find more bodies under the debris, and it is feared the death toll could rise.
The strikes took place while the U.S. government was seeking to broker a truce in Ukraine.
On April 23, Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to give up the Crimean Peninsula to Russia as part of a peace deal.
Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, was transferred to the Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1954 by the then-leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev.
It was included in the state when Ukraine became independent in 1991, but separatists broke away from Kyiv in 2014, and Russia annexed it later that year, after holding a referendum.
Zelenskyy Points Finger at Moscow
Zelenskyy pointed out on April 24 that Ukraine had agreed to the cease-fire proposal put forward by the United States 44 days ago, but that Moscow had continued its attacks.Later on April 24, Trump is set to meet with Store to discuss the war in Ukraine and the reciprocal tariffs.
Norway, a NATO member and strong ally of Ukraine, shares a 123-mile border with Russia.
A scheduled meeting for April 23 in London between foreign ministers to discuss peace proposals between Russia and Ukraine was indefinitely postponed.
On April 18, Rubio said the United States was ready to “move on” from efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there was no progress in the next few days.
On the same day, Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, signed a memorandum of intent with the United States, paving the way for a rare-earths mineral agreement to be finalized this week.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was due to travel to Washington at the start of this week to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and finalize the deal.
Ukraine has sizable deposits of rare earths—including graphite, lithium, and titanium—used in electronics, as well as uranium.
The details of the agreement have not been made public, and it is unclear whether it contains the security guarantees that Zelenskyy has demanded to prevent future Russian aggression.
The minerals deal was originally due to be signed in March, but it did not go ahead after Zelenskyy clashed publicly with Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office on Feb. 28.
Zelenskyy later said the row was “regrettable” and promised he would sign the minerals deal.
