Trump says 'Crimea will stay with Russia' as he seeks to end the war in Ukraine

"Zelenskyy understands that," Trump added, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "And everyone understands that he's been with them for a long time."

Trump made the comments in an interview with Time magazine on Tuesday. The president has accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Crimea is a strategic peninsula located in the Black Sea, south of Ukraine. It was captured by Russia in 2014, under former President Barack Obama, years before the Kremlin's full-scale invasion in 2022.

"They've had their submarines there since long before the period we're talking about, for many years. People in Crimea speak mostly Russian," Trump asserted. "But this was a concession by Obama. It wasn't a concession by Trump."

Meanwhile, Russia continues its bombing campaign. A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukrainian city, killing three people and wounding 10, officials said Friday, a day after Trump rebuked the Russian leader for a deadly missile and drone attack in Kyiv.

Among the civilians killed in the overnight drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, were a minor and a 76-year-old woman, regional administration head Serhii Lysak said on Telegram.

Russian forces launched 103 Shahed drones and decoys over five Ukrainian regions overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. In the northeastern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, authorities reported damage to civilian infrastructure, but no casualties.

The war could be approaching a turning point as the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior US officials have warned that the White House could soon abandon efforts to end the war if Kyiv and Moscow fail to reach an agreement. That could mean halting Washington's crucial military aid to Ukraine.

Amid the peace efforts, Russia bombarded kyiv for several hours on Thursday in an operation that killed at least 12 people and injured 87 more. It was its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July.

The attack earned Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare rebuke from Trump, who said efforts to resolve the conflict were reaching a critical point.

"I'm not happy about the Russian attacks in kyiv. They're unnecessary and come at a very bad time. Vladimir, STOP IT! 5,000 soldiers are dying every week," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. "Let's get the peace deal done!"

Trump's frustration is growing as his efforts to reach a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia fail to make progress.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and 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, very fine, thank you," his interlocutor responded in unusual remarks in English, as they shook hands.

Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and the envoy for international cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, also attended the meeting.

Trump on Wednesday accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the "killing ground" by refusing to cede the Crimean Peninsula as part of a potential deal. Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated during the war that recognizing the occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.

Trump and Zelenskyy are scheduled to arrive in Rome on Friday to attend Pope Francis' funeral in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Saturday. It was unclear whether they would meet privately.

Separately, a senior Russian military commander was killed by a car bomb near Moscow on Friday, the country's top criminal investigation agency announced.

The attack follows the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov on December 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he was walking to his office. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for Kirillov's murder.

Since Russia began its invasion of its neighbor, several prominent figures have been killed in targeted attacks believed to have been carried out by Ukraine.

Russian forces used Thursday's attack on the capital as cover to launch nearly 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the front line, which stretches some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), Zelenskyy said late Thursday.

"When the maximum of our forces were focused on defending against missiles and drones, the Russians significantly intensified their ground attacks," he wrote on Telegram.

Western European leaders have accused Putin of delaying negotiations and seeking to seize more Ukrainian territory by exploiting his military's advantage on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukraine accepted a ceasefire proposal presented by Washington 44 days ago as a first step toward a negotiated peace, but that Russian attacks continued.

During the recent talks, Russia attacked the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians celebrating Palm Sunday, struck Odessa with drones, and bombed Zaporizhia with powerful glide bombs.