KYIV — Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities early Thursday, prompting a rare rebuke from President Donald Trump, who called the deadly attack “not necessary, and very bad timing.”

“Vladimir, STOP!” he wrote on Truth Social, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has generally refrained from criticizing Russia’s conduct of the war and has instead denounced Ukraine, claiming Kyiv is reluctant to end the conflict.

The Russian attack killed at least 12 people and wounded around 90 others, emergency authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks on the capital in nearly a year.

Thursday’s strike is the latest in a devastating series of Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine and comes as the White House is pushing Kyiv to cede territory to end the war, enraging Ukrainians who increasingly feel abandoned by Washington and are turning to Europe for support.

France strongly backed Ukraine and its insistence on a ceasefire Thursday, with French President Emmanuel Macron telling BFMTV that Putin must “finally stop lying” and respond to the offer for a truce.

“When President Putin speaks to American negotiators, he tells them, ‘I want peace,’ ” Macron said. “He continues to bombard Ukraine, he continues to kill.”

The only question that remains, Macron said, is “Will President Putin agree to an unconditional ceasefire?”

Trump said Wednesday that while Russia is ready for a deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is proving difficult. Ukraine, however, accepted a U.S. proposal for a full ceasefire in March, while Russia did not. Facing new, increasingly concessionary proposals from Washington, Zelensky has insisted that he needs a ceasefire before he talks about what Ukraine might give up.

“I think Russia is ready,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office on Wednesday, hours before it launched the deadly barrage. “I think we have a deal with Russia, and we have to get a deal with Zelensky. I thought it would be easier to deal with Zelensky, but it’s been harder.”

Zelensky arrived in South Africa on Thursday for talks regarding a future peace deal but promptly cut the trip short due to the attack.

“If Russia says it is ready for a ceasefire, then they should stop the massive strikes on Ukraine,” he said. “The fact that we are ready to talk to the terrorists who have started a war on our land is already a big compromise.”

At the scene of the attack, many Ukrainians said they agree with Zelensky’s approach to reject any deal that would force Ukraine to make major concessions without an agreement by Russia to stop killing civilians and destroying the country’s cities.

Kyiv municipal workers Oleh Gribanov and Maksym Krizhanovskiy, in dusty coveralls and helmets, expressed little surprise that Trump was finding it easier to work with Russia rather than Ukraine, as they cleared wreckage from damaged apartment buildings.

“We don’t want to give our land away, and he wants us to give our land away and give up,” Gribanov said of Trump.

“It’s easier to put a victim under pressure than an aggressor,” Krizhanovskiy said, adding that Trump was “an imbecile.”

Confused residents wandered through the wreckage Thursday, clutching dogs and cats they had evacuated from the smoky, dust-filled apartments where families had gone to sleep peacefully the night before.

Rescue workers took turns digging through rubble to search for signs of life as anxious friends and relatives stood nearby. One man, who identified himself as a lawmaker who had grown up in the neighborhood, asked around about a man named Oleksandr. All he knew, he said, was that his friend’s red car sat crushed outside the impact site.

A dust-covered woman walked past with a black-and-white search dog named Maggie, saying she was about to take a much-deserved break after hours of work.

The scene was all too familiar in Ukraine, where apartments have been hit again and again over the last three years: the rush of volunteers; the tents with tea, water and snacks; the police yelling at people to stay away from buildings that might collapse; the clatter of bits and pieces of lives being tossed from windows above as bewildered survivors stare blankly at what used to be their homes.

Antonina Pakhtusyva, 71, who lives nearby, stood watching the rescue efforts and said she felt as though the world has abandoned the country.

“Ukraine is destroyed, burned, covered in blood. How many sons have died? And we ask for help, and they just humiliate us,” she said.

Her neighbor standing next to her, Iryna Kukushnikva, 63, teared up. The people she felt most sorry for, she said, were the children — lives disrupted, or cut short. “We have lived through life already, but they are just starting out,” she said.

She supported Zelensky’s decision to refuse a deal that many here believe could lock another generation of Ukrainians into the promise of future war with Russia. “Zelensky is protecting his motherland — that’s why it’s difficult to deal with him,” she said. “Because he doesn’t sell his country out.”

The attack’s toll was unusually high for the capital, where advanced air defense systems mean it is generally better protected than other cities.

Vlad Muravik and Zakhar Golodryga skipped school Thursday to help clean up after the destruction. Their friend lives in one of the damaged buildings, and they have been closely following Trump’s peace plan.

“The Americans are very demanding, with demands that are unfair to Ukrainians,” said Golodryga, 15.

“If Ukraine agrees to the demands that are set right now, in three or four years this war will start again,” said Muravik, 14.

As teenage boys, they’re well aware of the risks of the war dragging out: They fear they will one day be mobilized to fight against Russia. Golodryga’s 31-year-old brother was recently conscripted while he waited at a bus stop. He’s now at a training center preparing to deploy to the front line.

“Kyiv hasn’t heard terror this loud in a long time,” lawmaker Inna Sovsun wrote on X during the attack. “And amid all this, Trump says Russia is ready for peace? There’s nothing surreal like hearing promises of peace while hiding from ballistic missiles.”

Washington has been increasingly frustrated as Ukraine has balked at U.S. efforts to conclude a quick deal to end the war and is pushing Kyiv to agree to a proposal that many here see as unfair.

U.S. officials presented an offer to the Ukrainians in Paris last week that would include freezing current battle lines — which would give Russia 20 percent of the country — and allowing for U.S. recognition of the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea as Russian territory. Ukraine has also been told it will not be allowed to join NATO, the alliance that Kyiv has long seen as the fastest, cheapest and most secure way to protect the country from future attacks.

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the United States would walk away from the peace process if progress is not achieved soon.

Ukraine agreed to a U.S.-proposed full ceasefire on March 11, but Russia did not reciprocate. Both sides later agreed separately with Washington to cease attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days, though they disputed the start date for that truce. Putin then unilaterally declared a 30-hour Easter ceasefire, which partially reduced hostilities in some areas and halted air raid alerts for the holiday. Ukraine asked for extensions of both the energy truce and the Easter truce, but Russia did not respond.

Civilians have repeatedly come under fire since then, including an attack Wednesday on a bus full of factory workers that killed nine people and wounded dozens of others.