ROME (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called 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 in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine." His envoy, Steve Witkoff, had made a visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday,
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U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, foreground, President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second left, and Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, left, arrive to attend the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, left, arrive to attend their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, foreground, President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second left, and Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, left, arrive to attend the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, left, arrive to attend their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff attends the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier talks on the phone in a shelter in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).
People lay flowers and toys on the site of Russia's deadly missile attack that hit residential houses Thursday killing 12 civilians and injuring 87 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A police officer passes by remains of the cars damaged in the Russian missile attack that hit residential houses Thursday killing 12 civilians and injuring 87 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier looks out of a shelter on the anti-drone firing position in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, April. 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a dog out of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian police officers stand near a damaged building after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Medics tend to an injured woman in an ambulance near a house destroyed by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’” Trump wrote. “Most 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!”
Trump's announcement followed him saying in an interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia," the latest example of how he has been pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while the country remains under siege.
He also earlier demanded on social media that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “IMMEDIATELY” sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to his nation's mineral resources.
Progress on ending the war has seemed elusive in the months since Trump returned to the White House, and his previous claims 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 said. “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 asked by reporters, Zelenskyy said he didn't want to comment on Trump's statement but repeated, as he has many 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 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
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. officials had warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides did 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 pope's funeral, Trump said there was no deadline for the conclusion of peace talks.
“I just want to do it as fast as possible,” Trump said. Negotiators are “pretty close” to a deal, he said.
He promised to meet with foreign leaders while in Rome, and said it was “possible” he could meet with Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said 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 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 released 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 policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who attended the talks, said the meeting lasted three hours and was “constructive” and “useful.” Further talks are expected, he said.
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 2022 invasion of its neighbor.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said 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 said before Trump's post late Friday, is “ready to reach a deal, but there are still some 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.
Meanwhile, Russia has continued its bombardment of Ukraine. A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukraine city, killing three people and injuring 10 others, officials said Friday, a day after Trump rebuked Putin for a major missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed 12 people and injured 87.
A child and a 76-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 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported. Authorities in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
Russian forces used Thursday's attack on Kyiv as cover to launch almost 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, Zelenskyy said 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 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russian attacks continued.
During recent talks, Russia hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
Megerian reported from Washington and Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, foreground, President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second left, and Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, left, arrive to attend the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, left, arrive to attend their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff attends the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier talks on the phone in a shelter in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).
People lay flowers and toys on the site of Russia's deadly missile attack that hit residential houses Thursday killing 12 civilians and injuring 87 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A police officer passes by remains of the cars damaged in the Russian missile attack that hit residential houses Thursday killing 12 civilians and injuring 87 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier looks out of a shelter on the anti-drone firing position in Kostyantynivka, the site of the heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP).
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, April. 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a dog out of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian police officers stand near a damaged building after a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Medics tend to an injured woman in an ambulance near a house destroyed by a Russian airstrike in a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched dozens of airstrikes across Gaza on Friday that local health officials said killed 108 people, mostly women and children, and which Israeli officials described as a prelude to a stepped-up campaign to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
Israel also struck two ports in Yemen that it said were used by the Houthi militant group to transfer weapons. Local health officials said at least one person was killed and nine injured.
The strikes across the Gaza Strip followed days of attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and came as U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up a visit to the region that included stops in three Gulf states but not Israel.
There had been widespread hope that Trump's trip could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which Israel has prevented for more than two months. The Trump administration is also trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, which backs several anti-Israel militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi on the final day of his trip, Trump said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza. “We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are — there’s a lot of bad things going on.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said 31 children and 27 women were killed and hundreds more wounded in Friday’s airstrikes.
In southern Gaza, Israel struck the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and the city of Khan Younis. It said it hit anti-tank missile posts and military structures.
Three children and their grandfather were killed as they fled bombardment in Khan Younis, said the head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital, Dr. Ahmed al-Farra.
In northern Gaza, the attacks sent people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya. Israel said it eliminated several militants who were operating in an observation compound.
Dark smoke was seen rising over Jabaliya as people fled on donkey carts, by car and foot.
“We got out of the house with difficulty, killing and death, we did not take anything,” said Feisal Al-Attar, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya.
After the strikes on Yemen, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “There will be more to come.” The Israeli military, which attacked Houthi targets earlier this month, said it had intercepted several missiles fired from Yemen toward Israeli airspace during Trump’s visit to the region.
An Israeli official said the latest strikes in Gaza were part of the lead-up to a larger operation that it warned would begin soon if Hamas doesn't release the 58 hostages still in Gaza since the group's October 2023 attack that launched the war. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to escalate pressure on Hamas with the aim of destroying the militant group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades. In comments released by his office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Friday that strikes in Gaza earlier in the week targeted the presumed leader of Hamas' military wing in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, although there has been no word on his fate. He is the brother of the slain former leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar — a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
In Israel, a group that supports the families of hostages said they awoke Friday with “heavy hearts” to reports of increased attacks and called on Netanyahu to “join hands” with Trump’s efforts to free hostages. On Monday, Israeli-American Edan Alexander was released after backdoor U.S.-Hamas diplomacy.
In the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said.
Of the hostages that remain in Gaza, Israel believes as many as 23 are still alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.
Dozens of Palestinians in Khan Younis lined up at a charity kitchen Friday in a scene that quickly turned chaotic as the enclave entered its third month of Israel’s aid blockade.
Several children behind a metal partition screamed and cried out for food. At one point, charity kitchen workers struggled to push people back into line.
Some workers were attacked as the crowd surged forward, pressing against the partition and lunging toward the large pots of rice to grab whatever they could.
Israel's blockade is preventing food, fuel medicine and all other supplies from entering, worsening a humanitarian crisis. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds.
“Our only hope was that Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East would result in solutions and somehow open crossings to bring in humanitarian assistance as soon as possible into the Gaza Strip,” said Saqer Jamal, a displaced man from Rafah who was at the kitchen.
The United Nations announced Friday that 18 kitchens previously closed due to food shortages in Gaza reopened after community members shared remaining food stocks.
Earlier this week, a new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery said it expects to begin operations before the end of the month — after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials.
A statement from the group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, identified several U.S. military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort.
Many in the humanitarian community, including the U.N., said they won't participate because the system does not align with humanitarian principles and won't be able to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.
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Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli army airstrike in northern Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
An Israeli tank moves in a staging area in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike near Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israeli soldiers work on tanks and APCs at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)