Russia-Ukraine

Trump: very good chance of agreement this week. Putin: no one doubts Moscow will win

From the US President's belief that an understanding between the parties can be reached in the coming days to the Russian counterpart's certainty of a landslide victory

21 April 2025[Aggiornato il 21 aprile 2025, ore 16:56]

3' min read

Key points

Attacks
Ukraine: "Russian drone launch site in Kursk hit, at least 20 operators killed"
Putin: "We will analyse Kiev proposal on civilian targets"
Putin: 'Civilian building hit in Sumy because there were soldiers there'
Cross-accusations of violation
The American proposal

3' min read

There is a strong possibility that Russia and Ukraine will reach an agreement this week, according to Donald Trump. "There is a very good chance," the US president said when asked if he thinks an agreement can be reached this week. Potus had said yesterday that he hoped Moscow and Kiev would reach an understanding in the coming days

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has no doubts: no one doubts that Russia will win the war in Ukraine. "No one doubts it, it is good that you, as a person with a military background, remind us of it," he said, commenting on the statement of Vladimir Chernevdel, head of the Starobelsk municipal district in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Lugansk, who said that the victory will be Russia's. This was reported by Ria Novosti.

Meanwhile, the 30-hour Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin expired at 11pm Italian time on Sunday evening, midnight in Moscow and Kiev. Earlier, the Kremlin had stated that the Russian president did not order an extension of the ceasefire.

The attacks resumed

In the night, after the expiration of the feeble truce, the Russian forces struck Ukrainian territory with 3 missiles and 96 drones: this is the toll according to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its Telegram channel. Hit the Kherson region with an Onyx anti-ship cruise missile from Crimea, the Mykolaiv region with two Kh-31P anti-radar missiles from the airspace over the Black Sea. Forty-two of the drones were shot down in all areas of the country out of a total of 47.

Ukraine: 'Russian drone launch site in Kursk hit, at least 20 operators killed'

The Ukrainian Air Force struck a Russian drone launch site near the village of Tetkino in the Russian oblast of Kursk two days ago, the Ukrainian General Staff reported today. The attack killed up to 20 drone operators, the statement reads. Russian forces allegedly used the facility to prepare, equip and launch reconnaissance, attack and Fpv (First Person View) drones. "Our attack is a tangible response to (Russia's) actions against the Ukrainian army," the General Staff stated . "No war crime will go unpunished."

Putin: "We will analyse Kiev's proposal on civilian targets and truce extension"

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to consider a proposal from Kiev for an agreement to prevent attacks on civilian targets. "All this needs to be clarified, it is an object for a very detailed examination, perhaps even in bilateral form," the Kremlin chief was quoted by Interfax as saying in response to a question from journalists. "Then we will analyse all this and make a corresponding decision for the future," Putin added.

Moscow will 'analyse' Volodymyr Zelensky's offer toextend the truce in Ukraine by 30 days, with a halt to drone and missile raids against civilian infrastructure. This was said by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that "all this deserves to be studied carefully, perhaps bilaterally, after a dialogue, we do not rule it out". 'We will therefore analyse all this and make appropriate decisions,' he told the press.

Putin: 'In Sumy, civilian building hit because there were soldiers there'

Vladimir Putin said that in the bombing of Sumy on Palm Sunday that massacred civilians Russian forces hit 'a civilian target' because, according to him, 'there was an award ceremony' of Ukrainian soldiers. This was reported by the Interfax news agency. Putin's words cannot be confirmed. The official death toll of the raid on Sumy is at least 35 civilians dead and over a hundred wounded. Without providing evidence, Putin accused the alleged Ukrainian military of having 'committed crimes in the Russian' 'Kursk' region and stated that they 'should receive the punishment they deserved for what they did' and 'they received it'.

Ucraina, 1.147° giorno di guerra
Photogallery20 foto

The American Proposal

Assigning a neutral status to the territories around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would be one of the options the US is considering as a condition for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. The news is reported by the Wall Street Journal, in an article describing how Kiev is under pressure to respond this week to a series of far-reaching ideas from the Trump administration on how to end the war in Ukraine. And it is echoed on its online site by Tass, which points out that it is not yet known in what form the US might exercise control over these territories and the facility. Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear energy production plant in Europe. Since the end of February 2022, the plant has been under the control of Russian forces.