This week, fierce battles continued to rage along the front lines. Russia continued to pummel Ukrainian cities and towns deep in the rear with missiles and drones. Long-lasting power cuts persisted across most of the country. The week was also marked by Russian sabotage acts in NATO member Poland.
Russian forces have advanced in the towns of Novospaske and Shcherbynivka in Donetsk region, and near the villages of Vesele, Vysoke and Zatyshshya in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState said on Wednesday. A major Russian missile attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil on Wednesday killed at least 28 people, including three children, and injured 94 others. As of Friday morning, 16 people were missing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron signed a letter of intent Monday for Ukraine to obtain 100 Rafale fighter jets, air defense systems, missiles and other equipment over the next 10 years. The financing for this was not made clear. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a Sunday explosion on a railway track that has a role in transporting aid to Ukraine was an “act of sabotage.”
The closing days of the week saw discussions around the leaked elements of a new peace plan drafted by the U.S. and Russia. The 28-point document amounts to Ukraine’s full capitulation and would set conditions for renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine. It also mirrors Russia’s 2022 Istanbul demands, the Institute for the Study of War said. European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday did not comment in detail about the plan, but indicated they would not accept demands for Kyiv to make punishing concessions. “Peace cannot be a capitulation,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, likely reflecting the EU’s stance on the matter.
Zelenskyi to speak with Trump about new peace plan soon.
U.S. has officially presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a draft peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, his office said Thursday.
The statement came after a meeting in Kyiv between Zelenskyi and senior U.S. military figures, including U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. The Office of the Ukrainian President said the sides agreed to work on the elements of the plan in a way to achieve a “dignified end to the war.”
Zelenskyi was set to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days about the plan’s proposals, the message reads.