But halting progress, ever-more deadly drone attacks and unmoving negotiating positions seem to have taken their toll. On Thursday, Trump used a striking analogy to concede the warfare was nowhere near over, and that he did not, at that moment, feel it was best to intervene.

President Trump said during his phone call with Vladimir Putin that he compared the war in Ukraine to a fight among children, suggesting they ‘fight for a while.’ Trump also said he warned Putin not to retaliate against Ukraine over its recent drone attack on Russian bombers.

President Donald Trump says it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.

Trump told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Russia and Ukraine were fighting like children in a park and might not want to be pulled apart yet.

The German chancellor had come to Washington hoping to persuade President Trump to play a more active role in defending Ukraine.

At least five people, including a one-year-old child, were killed in a Russian drone strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky overnight, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said Thursday.

At least five people, including a 1-year-old, were killed in a Russian attack on Ukraine just hours after a phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trade, defense and Ukraine are the issues expected to dominate when Chancellor Friedrich Merz meets President Trump at the White House.

Russia fired four glide bombs at the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local authorities have said, heavily damaging the government building and injuring two people. Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the Kherson region,