These are the key events on day 1,156 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Friday, April 25:
Fighting
- Russian missiles and drones killed 12 people in Kyiv, in the biggest attack so far this year on the Ukrainian capital. The attack involved 145 drones and 70 missiles, including 11 ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian forces.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using its air strikes on Ukraine’s cities to cover advances by its ground forces, citing military leaders.
- President Zelenskyy said via social media that one of the ballistic missiles fired at Kyiv was made in North Korea. Earlier reports from the Reuters news agency identified it as a North Korea KN-23 (KN-23A) ballistic missile.
- Russia’s military said that its strikes were directed against the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and not targeted at civilians.
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs says seven regions remain under attack from Russia, in addition to Kyiv.
Politics and diplomacy
- United States President Donald Trump issued a rare rebuke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin following the attack on Kyiv.
- “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that reaching a deal to end the Ukraine war is now up to Moscow.
- “There is something on the table now, I think, where the Ukrainians are really playing ball. And I think the balls are clearly in the Russian court now,” Rutte told reporters.
- Ukraine said that a forensic medical investigation revealed that Russian forces tortured Viktoria Roshchyna, a 27-year-old Ukrainian reporter, who died last September after months in detention.
Economy
- Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko told the Reuters news agency that Ukraine is going “as fast as we can” on a critical minerals deal with the Trump administration, which would give the US greater access to Ukraine’s natural resources in exchange for military aid.
- Trump had said earlier that he expected to sign the minerals deal this week, but it still seems unlikely.
Ceasefire
- Trump said a ceasefire deal for Ukraine is in the works, and he was continuing to put pressure on Ukraine and Russia.
- The US president said the Kremlin had made the “pretty big concession” that it was open to “stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country”.
- Trump also suggested that Ukraine might be unable to recover Crimea.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the US CBS programme, Face the Nation, that negotiations were “moving in the right direction,” but specific points needed to be “fine-tuned”.
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