It's better to let Ukraine, Russia 'fight for a while,' says Trump

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

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In an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump likened the war in Ukraine - which Russia invaded in early 2022 - to a fight between two young children who hated each other.

Meanwhile, at least five people, including a I-year-old child, his mother and grandmother, were killed in a nighttime Russian drone attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, officials said.

Six drones hit a residential area in the city shortly before dawn, injuring nine others, according to authorities.

The child killed was the grandson of the local fire chief, Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The fire chief, identified by local officials as 50-year-old Oleksandr Lebid, “arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.”

The attack came just hours after Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Trump, Putin said “very strongly” that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine's stunning drone attacks on Russian military airfields on Sunday.