Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated Tuesday (August 12, 2025) that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had scored a “personal victory” by getting invited to talks with Donald Trump on U.S. soil, and that the assembly additional delayed sanctions on Moscow. Mr. Zelensky additionally dominated out withdrawing troops from Ukraine’s jap Donbas area as a part of a peace deal, after Mr. Trump recommended he and Mr. Putin would possibly negotiate a land swap to finish the conflict.
The summit, set to happen in Alaska on Friday, would be the first between a sitting U.S. and Russian president since 2021 and comes as Mr. Trump seeks to dealer an finish to Russia’s almost three-and-a-half yr conflict in Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky, who just isn’t scheduled to participate, has expressed concern that Russia will put ahead hard-line calls for and that Trump will hammer out a deal that can demand Ukraine cede swathes of territory.
“We will not withdraw from the Donbas… if we withdraw from the Donbas today — our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control — we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive,” Mr. Zelensky advised reporters.
The Donbas encompasses the jap Ukrainian areas of Lugansk and Donetsk, each of which Russia claims as its personal and has sought to manage since its invasion started in 2022.
Mr. Zelensky stated Friday’s summit would successfully postpone new U.S. sanctions on Russia — sanctions that Mr. Trump had promised to impose if Putin refused to halt his conflict.
“First, he will meet on U.S. territory, which I consider his personal victory. Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions,” Mr. Zelensky stated.
Mr. Zelensky additionally stated he had acquired a “signal” from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia would possibly conform to a ceasefire, with out elaborating.
“This was the first signal from them,” Mr. Zelensky stated.
To put together for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a name with US counterpart Marco Rubio, who advised a US radio present earlier that Mr. Trump didn’t regard the assembly as a “concession” to Russia.
The White House, in the meantime, confirmed that the assembly took place after Putin requested it.
Mr. Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated the intention was “for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war”.
– ‘No tools’ –
On the battlefield, Mr. Zelensky warned Russia had made sharp advances close to the coal mining city of Dobropillia and was planning new floor assaults on at the least three completely different areas of the entrance line.
“Russian units have advanced 10 kilometres (six miles) deep in several spots. They all have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. Some have already been found, some destroyed, some taken prisoner. We will find the rest and destroy them in the near future,” Mr. Zelensky stated.
A map revealed by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has shut ties with Ukraine’s navy, confirmed Russia had made a double-pronged advance round 10 kilometres (six miles) deep in a slim part of the entrance line close to Dobropillia.
Dobropillia, residence to round 30,000 individuals earlier than the conflict, has come underneath common Russian drone assaults.
The advance additionally threatens the largely destroyed city of Kostiantynivka, one of many final massive city areas in the Donetsk area nonetheless held by Ukraine.
Russian forces have been accelerating their advances for months, urgent their benefit in opposition to overstretched Ukrainian troops.
The Ukrainian military stated Tuesday it was engaged in “difficult” battles with Russian forces in the east, however denied Russia had a foothold close to Dobropillia.
“The situation is difficult and dynamic,” it stated in a assertion.
– ‘New offensive’ –
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based suppose tank, stated Russia was sending small sabotage teams forwards.
It stated it was “premature” to name the Russian advances round Dobropillia “an operational-level breakthrough”.
A Ukrainian navy group that oversees components of the entrance in the Donetsk area additionally stated Russia was probing Ukrainian strains with small sabotage teams, describing battles as “complex, unpleasant and dynamic”.
Mr. Trump has described his summit with Putin on Friday as a probability to verify the Russian chief’s concepts for ending the conflict.
European leaders have in the meantime sought to make sure respect for Kyiv’s pursuits.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made pricey however incremental features throughout the entrance in current months and claims to have annexed 4 Ukrainian areas whereas nonetheless combating to manage them.
Ukrainian police in the meantime stated that Russian assaults in the previous hours had killed three individuals and wounded 12 others, together with a little one.
