Donald Trump's two-word response as Russia kills four children in Ukraine strike

Donald Trump has said he is 'not happy' after Russia killed four children in a devastating night of strikes on Ukraine.

Last night, Vladimir Putin's forces launched a major air assault on Kyiv that included a rare strike on the city centre, killing at least 21 people and wounding 48. Among the dead were four children aged between two and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's city administration.

Offices belonging to the British Council and European Union were also severely damaged in the blasts. The bombardment of drones and missiles marked the first major Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks amid faltering support for Trump's peace efforts to end the three-year war.

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On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing that US President Donald Trump was "unhappy but not surprised" by Russia's strikes - and inisted it was down to "both sides" to end the war, which was started by Moscow's invasion in 2022.

She said: "He was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised. These are two countries that have been at war for a very long time. Russia launched this attack on Kyiv, and likewise, Ukraine recently dealt a blow to Russia's oil refineries."

It comes after Number 10 urged Putin to "stop this senseless killing" as Russia's ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office yesterday afternoon. Ukraine has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the overnight bombardment, while two of Zelensky's top envoys were set to meet on Friday with the Trump administration regarding mediation.

The Kremlin said Russia remained interested in continuing peace talks despite Thursday's air attack, which was one of the war's biggest since it began in 2022. Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country early on Thursday, most of them striking targets in Kyiv.

At least 33 locations across all 10 of the city's districts were directly hit or damaged by debris, Mr Tkachenko said. Thousands of windows shattered as nearly 100 buildings were damaged, including a shopping centre in the central district.

Thursday's attack is the first major combined Russian mass drone and missile attack to strike Kyiv since US President Donald Trump met with Mr Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Writing on X after Thursday's attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace but now more often stays silent rather than taking principled positions."