Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with Donald Trump in the White House, Washington D.C., May 10, 2017 (Shealah Craighead)

EA-The Focus VideoCast: Trump’s Chainsaw Presidency

Saturday’s Coverage: Envoy Witkoff to Trump — Give 4 Ukrainian Regions to Russia

UPDATE 1841 GMT:

Three civilians have been killed and two injured by Russian drone and artillery attacks on Kherson city in southern Ukraine.

A 62-year-old woman was slain by shelling. A 48-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman died in hospital from injuries from drone attacks.

UPDATE 1519 GMT:

The toll from the Russian ballistic strike on Sumy in northern Ukraine is now 34 killed and 117 injured.

European leaders have denounced the mass murder. French President Emmanuel Macron posted, “Everyone knows: This war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it — with blatant disregard for human lives, international law, and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump.”

The European Union’s foreign policy head Kaja Kallas emphasized, “Horrific example of Russia intensifying attacks while Ukraine has accepted an unconditional ceasefire.”

And European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared, “Strong measures are urgently needed to enforce a ceasefire. Europe will continue to reach out to partners and maintain strong pressure on Russia until the bloodshed ends and a just and lasting peace is achieved, on Ukraine’s terms and conditions.”

Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, joined the denunciation of the attack, “Today’s Palm Sunday attack by Russian forces on civilian targets in Sumy crosses any line of decency.”

UPDATE 1020 GMT:

At least 31 people have been killed and at least 84 injured by a Russian ballistic missile strike in Sumy city in northeast Ukraine.

Two childen were slain and 10 wounded.

Many of the victims were heading to church for Palm Sunday services when two missiles landed in the city center. One hit a trolley bus full of passengers.

Video showed bodies lying in the street, burning cars, and rescuers carrying bloodied survivors. The human rights center and several buildings were destroyed.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted:

For the second month in a row, Russia has refused to accept the US proposal for a full ceasefire, which Ukraine unconditionally accepted on March 11. Instead, Russia ramps up its terror.

We urge partners to provide Ukraine with additional air defense capabilities and increase pressure on Moscow. Strength is the only language they can understand and the only way to put an end to the horrific terror.

President Volodymyr Zelensky commented:

Enemy missiles hit an ordinary city street, ordinary life: houses, educational institutions, cars on the street … And this on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem.

Only a scoundrel can act like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people. Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible.

UPDATE 0656 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 56 of 88 drones launched by Russia overnight, and 24 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

However, three civilians were killed and seven injured by Russian attacks on 31 settlements in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. A multi-story building, 11 private houses, a warehouse, and a private vehicle were damaged.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, three women and a man were wounded when a Russian glide bomb struck a private residence.

Four injuries have been reported in Kyiv with damage to residential and commercial buildings.

UPDATE 0648 GMT:

Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says Ukraine’s future is with the European Union and NATO — however, it should not join either until Russia’s invasion is halted.

In an interview published on Saturday, Merz said:

Ukraine is a very large European country, but it is a European country that is at war. A country that is at war cannot become a member of NATO or the European Union.

The promise of joining the European Union remains valid, as does the perspective of joining NATO. But for both of these to happen, the war must end first.

UPDATE 0641 GMT:

The pilot of a US-made F-16 fighter jet has been killed in combat.

The military did not give details of the death of Pavlo Ivanov, saying that a commission is trying to establish “all the circumstances of the tragedy”.

Ivanov’s death was the second incident with an F-16 since they were finally delivered to Ukraine last year.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute:

UPDATE 0635 GMT:

Ukraine is consulting experts on how to repair damage from a Russian drone attack on the dormant Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

The containment vessel of the plant, in northern Ukraine, was struck on February 14.

Environment Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said, “We are actively working on this….We, of course, need to restore the ‘arch’ so that there are no leaks under any circumstances, because ensuring nuclear and radiation safety is the main task.”

The arch was installed in 2019 to cover the leaking “sarcophagus” of Chernobyl, hurriedly put in place in the weeks following the 1986 disaster at the plant. The drone attack punched a large hole in the new containment structure’s outer cover and exploded inside.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Trying to manipulate Donald Trump into ongoing support of its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has praised him for having the best understanding of the assault.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a forum in southern Turkey on Saturday, “President Trump was the first and so far, I think, almost the only one among the western leaders who repeatedly, with conviction, several times stated that it was a huge mistake to pull Ukraine into NATO.”

Lavrov’s praise followed Friday’s visit by Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, to St. Petersburg for a meeting of more than four hours with Vladimir Putin.

Witkoff has proposed to Trump that Ukraine give all of four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south — as well as the Crimea peninsula to Russia.

Amid the Trump Administration’s direct talks with both Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin has been holding out against any concessions in its invasion. It has continued attacks on energy infrastructure, despite declaring its consent to a halt, and has rejected a Ukraine-US agreement to stop strikes in and from the Black Sea.

On Friday, Trump said Russia “has to get moving”: “Too many people are dying thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!”

But on Saturday, he rambled vaguely to reporters on Air Force One:

There’s a point at which you have to either put up or shut up. We’ll see what happens, but I think it’s going fine….

I think Ukraine-Russia might be going OK. And you’re going to be finding out pretty soon.