Trump calls for Ukraine and Russia to meet for ‘very high level’ talks, says they are close to deal

KYIV Ukraine AP President Donald Trump is calling for Ukraine and Russia to meet for very high level talks saying they are very close to a deal on ending the bloody three-year war Trump posted on his Truth Social site shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis funeral that it was a good day of talks and meetings between the two sides His envoy Steve Witkoff had made a visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday They are very close to a deal and the two sides should now meet at very high levels to finish it off Trump wrote The majority of the major points are agreed to Stop the bloodshed NOW We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war THIS IS A LATEST NEWS UPDATE AP s earlier story follows below KYIV Ukraine AP U S President Donald Trump stated in an interview published Friday that Crimea will stay with Russia the latest example of how he s pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while the country remains under siege He also demanded on social media that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy RIGHT NOW sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to his nation s mineral tools With Trump envoy Steve Witkoff making another visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday Trump wrote that SUCCESS seems to be in the future Progress on ending the war has been elusive in the months since Trump returned to the White House and his previous insists of imminent breakthroughs have failed to come to fruition Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine on Friday killing three people with a drone strike on an apartment building in a southeastern city Despite a rare admonishment of Putin this week Trump s focus has largely been on urging Zelenskyy to cut a deal that would involve ceding territory to Ukraine s invader In an interview with Time magazine Trump described Crimea as a place where Russia has had their submarines and the people speak largely Russian Crimea will stay with Russia Trump declared And Zelensky understands that and everybody understands that it s been with them for a long time It s been with them long before Trump came along When required by reporters Zelenskyy commented he didn t want to comment on Trump s comment but repeated as he has a great number of times during the war that recognizing occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian is a red line for his country Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine It was seized by Russia in while President Barack Obama was in office years before Russia s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in Disagreements over next policies Trump has been accusing Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Putin Western European leaders however have accused Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum The war could be approaching a pivotal moment as the Trump administration weighs its options Senior U S leaders have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to a settlement That could potentially mean a halt of crucial U S military aid for Ukraine Speaking to reporters Friday as he left the White House to attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome Trump declared there is no deadline for the conclusion of peace talks I just want to do it as fast as feasible Trump noted Negotiators are pretty close to a deal he explained He promised to meet with foreign leaders while in Rome and mentioned it was attainable he could meet with Zelenskyy Zelenskyy reported late Friday however that he was not sure he would make it to Rome in time for the funeral Witkoff s meeting with Putin on Friday was their second meeting this month and the fourth since February Witkoff s trip coincided with the death of a senior Russian military officer in a car bomb near Moscow The Kremlin circulated a short video of Putin and Witkoff greeting each other How are you Mr President Witkoff could be heard saying Fine just fine thank you Putin responded in rare remarks in English as the two shook hands Putin s foreign program aide Yuri Ushakov who attended the talks disclosed the meeting lasted three hours and was constructive and useful Further talks are expected he noted Putin and Witkoff discussed in particular the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine according to Ushakov Delegations from the two countries last met in the weeks following Russia s February invasion of its neighbor Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared in an interview with CBS Face the Nation that he agreed with Trump s opinion that negotiations are moving in the right direction Russia he explained is ready to reach a deal but there are still chosen specific points elements of this deal which need to be fine-tuned He declined to provide further details according to excerpts of the interview that will air Sunday Russia s attacks claim more lives Meanwhile Russia has continued its bombardment of Ukraine A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukraine city killing three people and injuring others leaders disclosed Friday a day after Trump rebuked Putin for a major missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed people and injured A child and a -year-old woman were among the civilians killed in the nighttime drone strike in Pavlohrad in Ukraine s Dnipropetrovsk region the head of the regional administration Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram Russian forces fired Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight Ukraine s air force stated Government in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions announced damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties Russian forces used Thursday s attack on Kyiv as cover to launch almost assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly -kilometer -mile front line Zelenskyy disclosed late Thursday When the maximum of our forces was focused on defense against missiles and drones the Russians went on to significantly intensify their ground attacks he wrote on Telegram Zelenskyy noted Thursday that Ukraine agreed to a U S ceasefire proposal days ago as a first step to a negotiated peace but that Russian attacks continued During latest talks Russia hit the city of Sumy killing more than civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs