Russia’s rare advance puts pressure on Ukraine negotiations
Over the past few days, Russian troops have made an unexpected advance on Ukraine's eastern front near the city of Dobropillia, penetrating several kilometers into Kyiv-controlled territory.
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), this is a rare step in the war and comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to gain a battlefield advantage before his meeting with U.S. leader Donald Trump, scheduled for Friday in Alaska.
Reuters reports that small groups of Russian soldiers advanced even deeper into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, in one of the largest incursions this year, moving closer to the mining town of Dobropillia as part of Putin's campaign to seize total control of the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military has sent in reserves and stated they are engaged in fierce fighting with Russian troops.
An officer from the "Azov" brigade, deployed in the area, told the WSJ that the Russians had found a breach in the Ukrainian lines after weeks of probing attacks and used massive infantry reserves to break through the defenses. "The Ukrainians are discovering about 150 Russian infantrymen daily, but due to the lack of experienced drone pilots, they are only able to eliminate a small fraction of them," he said.
However, consolidating this sector will be difficult for Russia, with its troops vulnerable to constant attacks on their unprotected flanks. The WSJ also notes that the advance has drawn criticism from some Ukrainian military members, who accuse their leadership of sacrificing troops in attacks with low strategic value and minimal chances of success, often refusing to withdraw exhausted or encircled units.
Negotiations without Ukraine at the table
Trump has stated that any peace agreement would involve a "land swap for the benefit of both sides." However, since all disputed areas are on Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his EU allies fear he will be pressured to cede more than Russia. "Substantial and productive negotiations about us, without us, won't work," Zelenskyy told NewsNation, insisting that a lasting peace cannot be achieved without Ukraine at the discussion table and without respecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The White House specified that Friday's meeting is a "listening exercise" for Trump to "directly assess" Putin. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained: "The President feels he needs to look at this man across the table, see him face-to-face, hear him one-on-one, and make his own assessment of him." Trump would later be open to a trilateral format with Zelenskyy and Putin, said spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy and European leaders will hold a virtual meeting with Trump on Wednesday to emphasize that they will not accept pressure for territorial concessions. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that "Ukraine cannot lose this war, and no one has the right to pressure it to make territorial or other concessions, or to make decisions that resemble a surrender."
This year, Russia launched a new offensive in Sumy after Putin called for the creation of a "buffer zone" in the region. Zelenskyy recently stated that 6 of the 18 points occupied by the Russians on the Sumy front have been liberated but warned that Moscow is preparing major offensives toward Zaporizhzhia, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
