A "two week" deadline imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump to see if Russia is critical about peace in Ukraine has come and gone, with Moscow's escalation of assaults on civilians throughout this era failing to attract the slightest condemnation from the White Home.
"We're going to search out out very quickly. It'll take about two weeks, or per week and a half,” Trump informed reporters on Could 28, responding to a query on whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin desires to finish the conflict.
His feedback got here two days after Russia carried out the largest drone assault of the full-scale conflict, which reportedly concerned 355 Shahed-type assault drones and decoys.
Because the deadline was imposed, this file has been damaged twice — Russia attacked Ukraine in a single day on June 1 with 472 Shahed-type assault drones, and on June 9, 479 drones and 20 missiles have been launched towards Ukrainian cities.
The figures are stark. In March 2025, Russia launched 4,198 drones at Ukraine, which is up to now the biggest month-to-month variety of drones launched throughout the full-scale invasion.
But when the depth of assaults up to now in June continues, that determine might attain almost 7,000.
"That is terrorism towards the civilian inhabitants aimed to create a way of doom, war-weariness, and to place stress on the (Ukrainian) authorities," Rodion Rozhkovskiy, co-founder of Liveuamap, informed the Kyiv Impartial.
Regardless of beforehand hinting on the imposition of recent sanctions towards Russia if the Kremlin doesn't present a need to finish the conflict, Trump has up to now taken no motion towards the continued escalation of violence by Moscow's forces.
"Recently, each assault instills an enormous worry that doesn’t disappear till the air alarm is over."
As a substitute, Trump on June 6 excused Russia's escalating assaults, saying Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, an assault on Russian bomber plane, "gave Putin a cause to go in and bomb the hell out of them."
Operation Spiderweb was a medical strike towards professional navy targets. Russia's drone strikes indiscriminately goal civilians, unlawful beneath worldwide legislation.
On June 12, for the primary time because the launch of the full-scale invasion, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a press release to mark Russia Day.
"On behalf of the American folks, I need to congratulate the Russian folks on Russia Day," Rubio stated.
"The US stays dedicated to supporting the Russian folks as they proceed to construct on their aspirations for a brighter future."
In the meantime in Ukraine, a brighter future for these dwelling in cities beneath near-nightly bombardment by the Russian folks appears far out of attain.
"Recently, each assault instills an enormous worry that doesn’t disappear till the air alarm is over," Kyiv resident Oleksandra Pshenychna, 20, informed the Kyiv Impartial.
"The worst feeling that comes is despair accompanied by a way of vacancy, inevitability, and hatred for these people who find themselves behind the launch of Russian drones and missiles into residential buildings, cultural monuments, and crowds of individuals," she added.
Russia's disregard for Trump's statements and threats lengthy predates his two week deadline — information on Russian drone strikes clearly point out that regardless of the U.S.-led peace course of initiated after Trump took workplace, Moscow has launched bigger drone assaults on civilians than it did throughout the presidency of Joe Biden.
That is regardless of Trump's a number of guarantees to finish the conflict in 24 hours, which then became 100 days. Trump has now been in workplace for 144 days.
His seek for a peace deal has seen a flurry of diplomatic conferences across the globe, extreme and sustained stress on Ukraine, and a reluctance to power any concessions from Russia.
Throughout this time, Russia has continued to assault Ukraine every day. Forward of the second spherical of direct peace talks held in Istanbul on June 2, Russia killed 9 civilians and injured 49 others.
"They [russians] are utilizing all they will use — if they might use extra, they might use extra."
Kharkiv resident Mykola Zhydkov informed the Kyiv Impartial that he has observed that significantly heavy bombardments typically really coincide with peace process-related occasions that the White Home portrays as constructive steps in direction of a possible ceasefire.
"On June 10, POWs have been swapped. On the identical evening, Kharkiv suffered a serious assault," Zhydkov stated.
With Trump up to now failing to reply to Russia's escalating drone strikes, the Kremlin has little incentive to cease. All indicators level to Moscow's protection trade solely rising its potential to launch ever-larger mass assaults.
Based on Rozhkovskiy, the one limiting consider what number of drones Russian can launch in any given assault is what number of its factories can produce.
"They’re utilizing all they will use — if they might use extra, they might use extra," he stated.
The Russian manufacturing surge is being facilitated by imports of parts from China and the recruitment of low-skilled labor from international nations, together with from these in Africa.
Russia can be constructing new launch websites and can quickly be capable to deploy greater than 500 long-range drones an evening to assault Ukraine, a supply in Ukraine's navy intelligence (HUR) informed the Kyiv Impartial final week.
The Kyiv IndependentChris York