Ukrainian drone strike kills 1 in Russia ahead of the Trump-Putin summit
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded two others in a region some 260 miles (418 kilometers) east of Moscow, a Russian official said Monday, as fighting continued ahead of Friday's Russia-U.S. summit in which President Vladimir Putin seeks a peace deal to lock in Moscow's gains.
Nizhny Novgorod region Gov. Gleb Nikitin said in a statement that drones targeted two 'industrial zones' and caused the casualties and unspecified damage.
A Ukrainian official said at least four drones launched by the security services, or SBU, struck a plant in Arzamas city that produced components for Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations, said the Plandin plant produces gyroscopic devices, control systems and on-board computers for the missiles and is an 'absolutely legitimate target' because it is part of the Russian military-industrial complex that works for the war against Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a total of 39 Ukrainian drones overnight and Monday morning over several Russian regions as well as over the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
Friday's summit, which U.S. President Donald Trump will host in Alaska, sees Putin unwavering on his demands to keep all the Ukrainian territory his forces now occupy and to prevent Kyiv from joining NATO, with the long-term aim of keeping Ukraine under Moscow's sphere of influence.
Putin believes he has the advantage on the ground as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian advances along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front. On the front lines, few Ukrainian soldiers believe there's an end in sight to the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists he will never consent to any Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory nor give up his country's bid for NATO membership. European leaders have rallied behind Ukraine, saying peace can't be resolved without Kyiv.
With Europeans and Ukrainians so far not invited to the summit, Germany sought to prepare by inviting Trump, Zelenskyy, the NATO chief and several other European leaders for a virtual meeting on Wednesday.
The German chancellery said the talks would seek additional ways to pressure Russia and prepare for peace negotiations and 'related issues of territorial claims and security.'
Steffen Meyer, spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said earlier Monday that the German government "has always emphasized that borders must not be shifted by force' and that Ukraine should decide its own fate 'independently and autonomously..
The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
a minute ago
- Boston Globe
Alaska man gifted $22,000 motorcycle by Russian government after viral interview
Advertisement Warren told the crew about his difficulty obtaining parts for the bike because of supply-and-demand issues. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It went viral, it went crazy, and I have no idea why, because I'm really just a super-duper normal guy,' Warren said Tuesday. 'They just interviewed some old guy on a Ural, and for some reason they think it's cool.' On Aug. 13, two days before the Trump-Putin summit to discuss the war in Ukraine, Warren received a call from the Russian journalist, who told him, 'They've decided to give you a bike.' Warren said a document he received indicated the gift was arranged through the Russian Embassy in the U.S., which did not immediately return a message Tuesday. Warren said he initially thought it might be a scam. But after Putin and Trump departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson following their three-hour summit last Friday, he got another call informing him the bike was at the base. Advertisement He was directed to go to an Anchorage hotel the next day for the handoff. He went with his wife, and there in the parking lot, along with six men he assumed to be Russians, was the olive-green motorcycle, valued at $22,000. 'I dropped my jaw,' he said. 'I went, 'You've got to be joking me.'' All the Russians asked in return was to take his picture and interview him, he said: 'If they want something from me, they're gonna be sorely disappointed.' Mark Warren, an Alaska resident who received a new Ural motorcycle as a gift from the Russian government. Bill Roth/Associated Press Two reporters and someone from the consulate jumped on the bike with him, and he drove slowly around the parking lot while a cameraman ran alongside and filmed it. The only reservation he had about taking the Ural is that he might somehow be implicated in some nefarious Russian scheme. Warren said he doesn't want a 'bunch of haters coming after me that I got a Russian motorcycle. … I don't want this for my family.' When he was signing the paperwork taking ownership of the motorcycle from the Russian embassy, he noticed it was manufactured Aug. 12. 'The obvious thing here is that it rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet within probably 24 hours,' he said.
Newsweek
2 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Zelensky's Red Line for Putin Peace Talks
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ukrainian President Zelensky may have some red lines on concessions as he considers negotiations to reach an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, analysts told Newsweek. Why It Matters Zelensky met with President Donald Trump and other European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss potential peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. World leaders have for years sought to reach a deal to end the bloody conflict, but Zelensky and Putin have remained divided on key points to reach a ceasefire to end the conflict. What To Know Security guarantees from the West, Ukrainian membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and territorial issues are among the key obstacles to a peace deal. Putin has pushed for maximalist concessions from Ukraine, including Russian control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and no NATO membership for Ukraine. Those terms, however, would be difficult for Zelensky to accept. While Ukrainian support for continuing the war has dropped, according to some polls, Ukrainian leadership is unlikely to end the war under Putin's conditions, foreign policy analysts told Newsweek. Matthew Pauly, a historian at Michigan State University, told Newsweek that Zelensky may "concede temporary Russian control of occupied Ukrainian land, including Crimea," but that he "will not and cannot accede to the legal recognition of Russian annexation." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to reporters in Brussels, Belgium, on August 17, 2025. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to reporters in Brussels, Belgium, on August 17, 2025."Any proposal for a 'land swap' is a misnomer," he said. "Russia is not proposing giving up Russian land, but rather Ukrainian land that it illegally occupies. It is demanding gains that it has not achieved on the battlefield. As Zelensky quite rightly argues, Russia seeks to deceptively secure through negotiations what it has been unsuccessful in gaining on the battlefield over the course of twelve years." When it comes to security guarantees, the details are critical, Pauly said. "A security guarantee 'like NATO' sounds good, but the devil is in the details. Why not just be granted NATO membership then?" he said. NATO membership and maintaining Ukrainian land are at the "core of Ukraine's right to self-determination and sovereignty as a nation" and are unlikely to be concessions Zelensky is willing to make, Mai'a Cross, an international affairs professor at Northeastern University, told Newsweek. "While Ukraine may not join NATO any time soon, especially while the war is still ongoing, it will want to leave this option open down the road, as it should. This is also in the interest of the EU who will want to ensure that Russia does not threaten Ukraine again if there is eventually an end to this war," she said. What Concessions Would Ukrainians Support? Zelensky remains popular at home and has to "balance various sides" as he works to bring the war to a close, Dani Belo, director of the Global Policy Horizons Research Lab at Webster University, told Newsweek. While the U.S. wants to reach a ceasefire "as soon as possible," European nations would like to maintain deterrence against Moscow, he said. "Concurrently, from Kyiv's perspective, maintaining the military campaign against Russia comes at the cost of Ukrainians' lives, the economy, and democracy. Nobody knows what Zelensky will choose, but he will have to consider these interests," Belo said. Pauly said most Ukrainians may be able to accept "the temporary loss of Ukrainian land" but not Ukrainian sovereignty. "Ukraine has built up a network of defenses on land in the eastern part of the country that Russia is now demanding. Forfeiture of this land would expose Ukraine in the same way Czechoslovakia was fatally harmed by the handing over of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany in 1938," he said. Robert B. Murrett, professor of practice of international affairs at Syracuse University, told Newsweek many Ukrainians feel "resentment" and "fury" over the war, and that the Ukrainian public would likely not be willing to accept forfeiting NATO membership or land from the Donetsk or Luhansk regions. Crimea, however, "was never in the cards for being returned to Ukraine," he said. Still, Zelensky admitting that could be a mistake as "you don't want to give up your negotiating positions before you actually negotiate," he said. What People Are Saying Historian Matthew Pauly told Newsweek: "It is imperative that the burden of surrender does not fall on the victim when the aggressor demonstrates no significant concessions. Russia's insistence on a peace agreement rather than a ceasefire appears to be a strategic maneuver designed to prolong hostilities and allow Russia to continue bombing Ukrainian cities." Mark Storella, former ambassador to Zambia and professor of diplomacy at Boston University, told Newsweek: "The fundamental issue everyone is wrestling with is whether Putin wants peace on any terms short of his maximalist demands to swallow big chunks of Ukraine territory and turn Ukraine into a vassal state of Russia. Unless Russia is losing on the battlefield or it's economy is crumbling, Russia will accept peace only if it gets Putin's demands or if Putin sees it as a step toward eventual complete capitulation by Ukraine over time." What Happens Next Trump is pushing for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin to discuss peace talks. Whether either side is willing to make some concessions, or whether the war will continue for the near future, is yet to be seen.
Washington Post
2 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Alaska man gifted $22,000 motorcycle by Russian government after viral interview
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska man might have walked away as the biggest winner of last week's high stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. He rode off with a new motorcycle, courtesy of the Russian government. Putin's delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew's interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western Siberia, now assembles its bikes in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, and distributes them through a team based in Woodinville, Washington.
