Trump says Ukraine’s Donbas region should be ‘cut up’ to end war: ‘Go home, stop fighting, stop killing’

The comments came shortly after Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, causing a fire and forcing it to halt intake of gas from Kazakhstan, according to Russian and Kazakh authorities.

The Orenburg gas processing plant, operated by state-owned Gazprom near the Kazakh border, is part of one of the world’s largest complexes, handling gas condensate from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field as well as local oil and gas fields.

Regional Governor Yevgeny Solntsev said drone strikes set fire to a workshop and damaged part of the facility. The Kazakh Energy Ministry said the plant was temporarily unable to process gas from Kazakhstan “due to an emergency situation following a drone attack”. Ukraine’s General Staff said one of the plant’s gas processing units was damaged and that a “large-scale fire” had erupted.

Kyiv has intensified attacks on Russian energy facilities in recent months, citing their role in funding and enabling Moscow’s war effort.

Trump’s stance

Trump has previously suggested that Ukraine may have to give up land to end Moscow’s aggression. In a Fox News interview last Thursday, he said, “Well, [Putin]’s going to take something. They fought and he has a lot of property. He’s won certain property. We’re the only nation that goes in, wins a war and then leaves.”

On Sunday, while flying from Florida to Washington, Trump reiterated his stance, “The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say, ‘You take this, we take that.’ You know, there are so many different permutations,” he said according to AP.

Ukrainian prosecutors said Russia is adapting aerial-guided bombs to hit civilians further from the front line. Kharkiv authorities reported that a new rocket-powered UMPB-5R bomb, capable of traveling up to 130 km, struck a residential area in Lozava, 150 km south of Kharkiv.

Elsewhere, Russian drones hit Shakhtarske in Dnipropetrovsk, injuring at least 11 people and damaging several buildings, including a store, reported AP. A coal mine in the region was also struck, though 192 miners were safely evacuated.

Ukraine also claimed that a drone strike hit the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, sparking a fire and damaging its main refining units. The facility, operated by Rosneft, has an annual capacity of 4.9 million tons. Russian authorities have not confirmed the damage.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defence forces shot down 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 12 over Samara and one over Orenburg. Ukraine’s air force reported that 62 Russian drones were launched into Ukrainian territory, with 40 intercepted or diverted by electronic jamming, according to AP reports.

(With inputs from agencies)