This week, efforts to negotiate a ceasefire were underway as fighting continued to rage across the frontlines.
Trump and Putin spoke on Tuesday, and while the Russian leader rejected Trump’s request for a full month-long ceasefire, he agreed to a 30-day halt on strikes on energy targets. The intensity of Russian attacks has not changed as Russia continued its nightly drone and missile strikes against rear Ukrainian areas. It launched a major drone attack on the central city of Kropyvnytskyi overnight on Thursday and another one on Odesa late that same day.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha, has outlined the country’s red lines ahead of the eventual peace talks. The first one is Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Ukraine will never recognize its occupied territories as Russian. Second, no country can veto Ukraine’s choice to join any alliances, including the EU and NATO. Third, Ukraine would not accept any limits on its defensive potential or on the might of its army.
Ukraine continues its defensive fight on the front lines and has carried out a number of long-range strikes into Russia. Ukraine’s defense intelligence said Wednesday that its drones had struck a series of targets in occupied Crimea, including Russian radar and air defense systems, the Fyodor Uryupin universal tug and a Mi-8 helicopter. On Thursday, Ukraine carried out the largest drone strike yet on the Engels air base housing strategic bombers that Russia uses for attacks against the country. Ukraine had fired a new domestic long-range missile, the Long Neptune at Russia, Forbes said.
Almost 80 per cent of Ukrainians reject Putin’s demand that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured, a poll found.
Russia employs new tactics for large-scale drone attack on Odesa. Russia launched a massive drone strike on Odesa and the surrounding district late on Thursday.
Head of the regional military administration, Oleh Kiper, said the strikes had triggered fires in three locations, while three districts of the city were suffering from power cuts. The attack injured three people, including a minor, and damaged a high-rise apartment building and a shopping centre, Kiper said.
Russia used a new tactic for a drone strike on Odesa, Telegram channel Krymskiy Veter (Crimea Wind) said. Ukrainian media said the channel “was close” to Ukraine’s Security Service. “The drones wait over the sea to gather into a swarm. They then move toward the city at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters and rapidly crash into targets. It is nearly impossible to shoot down a drone from small arms at such height,” the message reads.
Russia employed the same tactics a day earlier when it launched a drone attack on Kropyvnytskyi, a city in central Ukraine. The strike injured 14 people and damaged houses and apartments.