One Killed in Ukrainian Strike on Crimea as Trump Holds Separate Calls with Putin, Zelenskyy

One person was killed and two others were injured in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea early on Sunday, Moscow-installed officials said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held separate phone calls with US President Donald Trump on efforts to end the war.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said the attack struck the northern part of the peninsula, killing one person and seriously injuring another. He did not provide further details.

The latest strike comes amid an intensifying Ukrainian campaign targeting military and infrastructure sites in Crimea, as Kyiv seeks to isolate the strategically important peninsula from Russian supply lines.

Russia seized and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Western officials and analysts say Ukraine's growing use of long-range strikes has demonstrated its ability to inflict significant damage on Russian targets at a time when Moscow's battlefield advances have slowed.

The attack followed separate conversations Trump held on Saturday with Zelenskyy and Putin ahead of this week's NATO summit in Ankara.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said he had called Trump to congratulate him on the 250th anniversary of American independence and discuss the situation along the front line.

"There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America's determination will be crucial. We agreed to continue the conversation in person during the NATO summit in Ankara," Zelenskyy wrote.

The Kremlin described Trump's nearly 90-minute conversation with Putin as "constructive."

Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of US independence during what was their fourth phone call this year.

According to Ushakov, Trump reaffirmed his "readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis" in Ukraine.

Ushakov added that Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would continue mediation efforts and remained prepared to travel to Moscow for further talks.

(AP reported)