Russia makes battlefield gains as Zelensky vows to keep land Putin covets
Russian soldiers have seized areas around the Ukrainian city of Dobropillia in the Donetsk region, and are seeking greater control over a major highway that leads to the west, presenting a serious threat after a long standstill between the two sides.
The moves raise the stakes in Trump's meeting with Putin at an air base near Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday after the Russian leader chose to intensify the war in recent weeks as the US president set a series of shifting deadlines for a peace deal.
Russia has bombarded Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones while also trying to pierce the Ukrainian defences along the front line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions Putin wants to gain in the negotiations.
Trump has alarmed European leaders with his suggestion of 'land-swapping' in his talks with Putin, triggering a warning from European Union leaders on Tuesday against giving up territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has not been invited to the Alaska summit, is expected to speak with Trump on Wednesday, German time, as part of a video conference hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The video conference is also scheduled to include the leaders of Germany, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland, the European Union and NATO.
Zelensky insisted on Tuesday that he would not give up the Donbas region, which covers Donetsk and Luhansk.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
22 minutes ago
- ABC News
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are meeting, but peace may be more than a conversation away
When Vladimir Putin arrives in Anchorage today for peace talks with Donald Trump to try to end the war in Ukraine, he's likely to walk in believing he has the upper hand. Russian forces have advanced at least 10 kilometres on a front in Ukraine's east this week — a breakthrough, of sorts, after months of incremental territorial gains. Moscow's drones and missiles have been pounding its neighbour's cities, killing scores of people and chipping away at the morale of those who remain. Despite all that aggression, Putin — considered a pariah by much of the international community since his full-scale invasion in 2022 — has been rewarded. An in-person meeting with the leader of the free world awaits on Friday, local time. Trump, for his part, has said he's searching for a pathway to peace. That idea could be unrealistic. A chasm remains between the Kremlin and Kyiv's ceasefire wish lists. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week outlined several demands he said Trump had "agreed" to raise with Putin. Among them was that Russia cannot veto his country's ambitions to join the European Union and NATO. Putin, however, has consistently framed that prospect as a dealbreaker. Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had to be involved in any ceasefire discussions. As the country that was invaded, that might seem obvious. But it hasn't been invited to Friday's meeting. "So whatever might come out of that summit between the US and the Russian presidents, those will not be terms that can be simply imposed on Ukraine," said Jaroslava Barbieri, a research fellow at London think tank Chatham House. She added Trump would need to be wary of Putin's spin. "One of the key objectives of the Kremlin … is putting forward proposals that are unacceptable for Ukraine in order to present Ukraine as an uncooperative and ungrateful actor to Trump's peace brokering efforts," she said. Since the Alaska summit was announced last week, Trump has made several references to the possibility of "land-swapping" between Russia and Ukraine. Judging by the rhetoric coming from both Moscow and Kyiv, the idea either side would be prepared to do that in exchange for peace appears far-fetched. The Kremlin's stance on ending its invasion has not budged since Putin set out conditions last year. He wants Ukraine to abandon its NATO aspirations, reduce its military, become a neutral state, and cede territory occupied by Russian forces during the war. Two territories in Ukraine's east — Donetsk and Luhansk — are particularly prized by Putin, and analysts say it will likely be a key demand discussed in Alaska. Russia has partially occupied both since 2014, and last month claimed it had captured all of Luhansk, more than three years after its full-scale invasion was launched. Zelenskyy has said his troops will not leave either. Ukraine's leader has also said he would not cede his country's territory, arguing tens of thousands of soldiers had died defending it and Russia could use it to launch future attacks. Such a move would not only be unpopular among Ukrainians. It's illegal under the country's constitution to redraw borders set in 1991. Putin, too, has constitutional headaches. Back in 2022, seven months after his full-scale invasion began, he signed amendments to Russia's constitution that four Ukrainian territories — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — had been integrated into his country. After years of fighting and massive casualties, his troops control only one of those completely. Zelenskyy says he's already warned Trump: "Putin is bluffing" when it comes to peace. "He is trying to put pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine," he said. Zelenskyy isn't the only key player not going to Alaska. European allies, who like the US have tipped billions of dollars in financial and military aid into Ukraine, have also been barred from taking part. This week they, and Ukraine's leader, had a video call with Trump. It was a last-ditch attempt to shape his approach. "We as Europeans are doing everything we can to help set the agenda for that meeting," German Chancellor Frederich Merz said on Wednesday, after the hook-up. Among the European Union's main concerns is that after Ukraine, an emboldened Putin will launch further invasions on the continent. At most risk, they say, are the Baltic states, and Poland. Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat to the United Nations, who resigned in 2022 because he was "ashamed" of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said he did "not have very high expectations" for Friday's meeting. "What Vladimir Putin wants goes strictly against the national interest of the United States and the Western countries," he said. "To accept Putin's demands and his conditions would mean surrender, not only of Ukraine, but of the West itself — surrender to open aggression, to rewriting of national borders, and it would be a green light for the continuation of such policy by Russia or any other would-be aggressor." So when is peace possible? Anna Mateeva, a visiting fellow at Kings College London who specialises in Russian politics and security, said Friday's summit should be viewed as the first step in a long process. "The most important thing which can be achieved is the two-leaders assessment of each other, and to what extent they are serious about what they are saying they can do," Dr Mateeva said. Many analysts argue the in-person meeting between Trump and Putin has the potential to be something constructive en route to a ceasefire. But actually getting there appears a distant goal. On the battlefield, fighting remains ferocious, and off it, the gulf between Kyiv and Moscow's lists of demands has not been closed. It could take more than a conversation to change that reality.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Has state recognition changed the game in Gaza? Only for the deluded
When Australia joined France, the UK and Canada in planning to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month, Anthony Albanese argued that Hamas didn't support a two-state solution. Its aim, he said, was instead to control all the land between the river and the sea. The prime minister was right about that. Reaching a compromise with Israel, dividing the territory so that two countries could live side by side in peace was the path chosen by Fatah, which controlled the West Bank, not Hamas, which controlled Gaza. But Hamas is prepared to make political capital out of a plan to recognise the state of Palestine, even if it's one it opposes. Hamas is looking to claim a victory, any victory, after 22 months of conflict in Gaza. More than 60,000 Palestinian lives have been lost, according to Hamas Health Ministry figures, including most of the senior Hamas leadership there. Huge swathes of the strip have been destroyed. Images of Gaza from the air conjure up the destruction of Grozny in Chechnya by the Russian military at the start of this century – or Dresden after Allied bombing during World War II. Hamas began this round of its conflict with Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering and raping some 1200 people, mostly Israelis, and taking some 250 into the Gaza Strip as hostages, uploading images to social media live as they went. It was the deadliest raid since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, leading to the longest conflict in Israel's history, and the costliest one for the people of Gaza. Last month, there was unprecedented criticism from Arab sources, with calls from the Arab League for Hamas to lay down its weapons, to release the remaining Israeli hostages and leave Gaza. Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad came out fighting. One of the group's 'external leadership' members based in Qatar, Hamad did a long interview on Al Jazeera, asserting that Hamas would never lay down its weapons, while spinning the Gaza war as a victory. 'Why are all these countries recognising Palestine now? Had any country dared to recognise the state of Palestine prior to October 7? … October 7 forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause, and to act forcefully in this respect,' he said. 'The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on October 7 has yielded important historic achievements… People who thought that defeating Israel is difficult, [realised] today that it is very easy. Today, through October 7, we proved that defeating Israel is not as difficult as people had thought.' However, most Palestinians don't regard this Gaza war as a victory for themselves, or for Hamas, according to polls conducted across Gaza and the West Bank over the past 22 months by Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki. They show that the October 7 attacks are viewed with increasing disfavour by Palestinians – as is Hamas itself. 'The resistance', as the Islamist group styles itself, is less popular now than it was before the war, with support for a negotiated settlement with Israel climbing. In Israel, polls show that more than 75 per cent of Israelis want the war in Gaza to end, so that as many Israeli hostages as possible can be returned. It's estimated that Gaza militants hold about 50 hostages, of whom 19 are believed to still be alive. Or half alive. On August 1, 664 days after taking him captive from the Nova Music Festival, Hamas released a video showing an emaciated Evyatar David given a shovel with which to dig his own grave. Tal Shoham, who had been held hostage with him, but was released during the second ceasefire back in April, said their thirst was so severe they drank from the toilet. PM Benjamin Netanyahu's latest plan to expand Israel's military operation and to occupy Gaza City 'temporarily' – forcibly relocating a further 800,000 Palestinians – is not popular in Israel. It was not supported by Israel's military, with Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir arguing it could expand Gaza's humanitarian crisis as well as endangering the hostages. Still, the widening of the war was pushed through by the most hard-line government in Israeli history, including parties led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who say openly they wish to move the Palestinian population out of Gaza and return Jewish settlers there in their stead.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Has state recognition changed the game in Gaza? Only for the deluded
When Australia joined France, the UK and Canada in planning to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month, Anthony Albanese argued that Hamas didn't support a two-state solution. Its aim, he said, was instead to control all the land between the river and the sea. The prime minister was right about that. Reaching a compromise with Israel, dividing the territory so that two countries could live side by side in peace was the path chosen by Fatah, which controlled the West Bank, not Hamas, which controlled Gaza. But Hamas is prepared to make political capital out of a plan to recognise the state of Palestine, even if it's one it opposes. Hamas is looking to claim a victory, any victory, after 22 months of conflict in Gaza. More than 60,000 Palestinian lives have been lost, according to Hamas Health Ministry figures, including most of the senior Hamas leadership there. Huge swathes of the strip have been destroyed. Images of Gaza from the air conjure up the destruction of Grozny in Chechnya by the Russian military at the start of this century – or Dresden after Allied bombing during World War II. Hamas began this round of its conflict with Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering and raping some 1200 people, mostly Israelis, and taking some 250 into the Gaza Strip as hostages, uploading images to social media live as they went. It was the deadliest raid since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, leading to the longest conflict in Israel's history, and the costliest one for the people of Gaza. Last month, there was unprecedented criticism from Arab sources, with calls from the Arab League for Hamas to lay down its weapons, to release the remaining Israeli hostages and leave Gaza. Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad came out fighting. One of the group's 'external leadership' members based in Qatar, Hamad did a long interview on Al Jazeera, asserting that Hamas would never lay down its weapons, while spinning the Gaza war as a victory. 'Why are all these countries recognising Palestine now? Had any country dared to recognise the state of Palestine prior to October 7? … October 7 forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause, and to act forcefully in this respect,' he said. 'The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on October 7 has yielded important historic achievements… People who thought that defeating Israel is difficult, [realised] today that it is very easy. Today, through October 7, we proved that defeating Israel is not as difficult as people had thought.' However, most Palestinians don't regard this Gaza war as a victory for themselves, or for Hamas, according to polls conducted across Gaza and the West Bank over the past 22 months by Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki. They show that the October 7 attacks are viewed with increasing disfavour by Palestinians – as is Hamas itself. 'The resistance', as the Islamist group styles itself, is less popular now than it was before the war, with support for a negotiated settlement with Israel climbing. In Israel, polls show that more than 75 per cent of Israelis want the war in Gaza to end, so that as many Israeli hostages as possible can be returned. It's estimated that Gaza militants hold about 50 hostages, of whom 19 are believed to still be alive. Or half alive. On August 1, 664 days after taking him captive from the Nova Music Festival, Hamas released a video showing an emaciated Evyatar David given a shovel with which to dig his own grave. Tal Shoham, who had been held hostage with him, but was released during the second ceasefire back in April, said their thirst was so severe they drank from the toilet. PM Benjamin Netanyahu's latest plan to expand Israel's military operation and to occupy Gaza City 'temporarily' – forcibly relocating a further 800,000 Palestinians – is not popular in Israel. It was not supported by Israel's military, with Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir arguing it could expand Gaza's humanitarian crisis as well as endangering the hostages. Still, the widening of the war was pushed through by the most hard-line government in Israeli history, including parties led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who say openly they wish to move the Palestinian population out of Gaza and return Jewish settlers there in their stead.
