While fighting continued to rage all along the front lines this week, the intensity of Russia\u2019s offensive operations has declined. Russian drone strikes have become a nightly occurrence in most of the country. The Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday that it had shot down six out of seven missiles and 133 out of 213 drones launched by Russia overnight. An overnight Russian drone attack on Wednesday killed two and injured two others in Kyiv region. In Kharkiv, a drone crashed into an apartment building, injuring two people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday world leaders visited Kyiv in a show of support on the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion. The UK announced on Monday its largest package of sanctions against Russia since the invasion. The EU has approved the 16th package of sanctions against Russia. The Group of Seven nations did not issue a statement to mark the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as they disagreed with the U.S. position on the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine and Europe need to prepare to take a stand against Russia without the U.S. by its side, former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in an interview Tuesday. The UK, Germany and France are willing to put their troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee its security, and U.S. President Trump is ready to backstop the effort, French Finance Minister said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU readies the biggest defense plan since the Cold War, budgeting billions of euros in security. Meanwhile Russia insists that Ukraine surrender large cities in four regions that Russian forces have no prospect of seizing, ISW said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyi arrives in Washington to meet Trump, sign rare earth minerals deal. <\/strong>U.S. President Donald Trump announced during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi will visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said the agreement is set to bring the U.S. \u201cgreat wealth\u201d and is a \u201cgreat deal for Ukraine, too.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to make a deal where we\u2019re going to get our money back and we\u2019re going to get a lot of money in the future,\u201d Trump stated. Commenting on his peacemaking efforts he said: \u201cWe\u2019re doing very well with Russia-Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, when asked about the specific guarantees he would provide to Ukraine as part of the deal, said: \u201cWell I\u2019m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We\u2019re going to have Europe do that. But we\u2019re going to make sure everything goes well. And as you know, we\u2019ll be really partnering with Ukraine in terms of rare earth. We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal earlier said that Ukraine will not sign a mineral deal unless it is directly linked to security guarantees. Speaking to reporters last week, Zelenskyi said peace in Ukraine was not possible without security guarantees that would include EU membership and financial contributions to sustain the army. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"