One person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed officials said in the early hours of Sunday, as Russian and Ukrainian leaders held separate calls with U.S. President Donald Trump on ending the war, now in its fifth year.
Two others were injured in the attack on northern Crimea, including one in a serious condition, the Russia-installed regional Gov. Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram. He did not give details of the attack.
In recent weeks Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on key infrastructure targets in Crimea as Kyiv’s military seeks to isolate the vital Russian-held peninsula in the latest stage of the war.
The peninsula was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine’s increasing use of long-range strikes has highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and put added pressure on the Kremlin while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt, Western analysts and officials say.
The latest attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump on ending the war.
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Writing on X, Zelenskyy said he called to congratulate Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and that the two leaders discussed the situation along the front line.
“There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America’s determination will be crucial. We agreed to continue the conversation in person during the NATO summit in Ankara,” he said late Saturday.
The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump discussed the conflict in Ukraine in a “constructive” phone call on Saturday.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence during the call that lasted nearly an hour and half, their fourth conversation so far this year.
Ushakov said that Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine, while Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will continue mediation efforts and stand ready to visit Moscow.
The Kremlin adviser said Putin once again emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”
At the same time, Putin charged that Kyiv and its European allies are “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” arguing that “the European ‘party of war’ proceeds from a flawed perception of the overall situation and the state of things along the line of contact,” Ushakov said.
He added that Putin told Trump about the “real situation on the battlefield, where Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one settlement after another.”
The Russian leader specifically mentioned the capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostyantynivka, describing it as a key step toward the “liberation” of the entire Donetsk region.
Kyiv has denied the Russian claim of capturing Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s General Staff reiterated that the embattled city remains under Ukrainian control in a statement on Telegram on Sunday, a day after Zelenskyy said that Russia’s claim to have taken control was “just another Russian lie.”
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