This week, fighting continued to rage along the front lines despite the diplomatic efforts to force Russia into peace.
A Russian missile strike on the city of Dnipro on Monday killed four people and injured 40 others. A drone attack ignited a fire on a rooftop in the southern city of Mykolayiv, causing no casualties. Russian forces made gains in the regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState said Tuesday. Despite the difficult battlefield situation, Ukrainian troops maintain control of the northern part of Pokrovsk. They also block Russia’s attempts to advance by bypassing the agglomeration of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Telegram Thursday. The battle for Pokrovsk continues.
The U.S.-Ukraine talks in Florida on Sunday were likely Ukraine’s “last chance” to sway Witkoff ahead of a meeting with Putin on Tuesday, Bloomberg News said. The Kremlin has rejected the U.S.-Ukraine peace proposal after another round of talks with U.S. officials in Moscow. In an interview with India Today aired Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Russia will take Donbas by force or Ukraine’s troops will withdraw.
The EU is adding Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, Politico said. The UN General Assembly passes a resolution demanding that Russia return abducted Ukrainian children.
EU leaders warn Zelenskyi U.S. could betray Ukraine and Europe, Der Spiegel says.
European heads of state and government are apparently deeply distrustful of the U.S. when it comes to peace negotiations with Russia and Ukraine. According to notes from a conference call obtained by [the German magazine] Der Spiegel, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron used drastic words in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other top European politicians to warn that the U.S. could betray Ukraine and Europe. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
“There is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said according to the English language notes of the call that Der Spiegel has obtained. There is, he said, “a big danger” for Zelenskyy. Russia’s demands for territorial concessions are one of the most delicate points in the negotiations. According to the notes, Merz said Zelenskyy must be “very careful” in the coming days.