Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,266
Fighting
A Russian attack killed a civilian and injured one other person in Shakhove, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on Telegram.
Russian forces bombed the town of Bilozerske, also in Ukraine's Donetsk region, overnight, killing two people and injuring seven, including a 16-year-old boy, the regional prosecutor's office said.
The AFP news agency reported that Ukrainians were evacuating Bilozerske as Russian troops made gains in the area, while Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState reported that Russian forces had advanced in Nikanorivka, Shcherbynivka and near Petrivka in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine as part of a ceasefire deal, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin is due to meet United States President Donald Trump for talks about the war in Alaska on Friday.
The Ukrainian General Staff said its forces were involved in 'difficult' fighting close to Pokrovsk and Dobropillia in Donetsk, and that reinforcements were required to block attacks by small groups of Russian troops.
Ukraine's SBU intelligence service claimed that Ukrainian drones hit a Russian long-range drone storage warehouse in the Kzyl-Yul settlement in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.
A person died after being injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Monday in Arzamas, in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency, which cited the regional governor.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said that IAEA staff had observed smoke rising from an administration building at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but that there was 'no radiation increase, no nuclear safety impact reported, and no casualties'.
Russian forces shot down six guided bombs and 179 drones in 24 hours, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported on Tuesday, according to TASS.
Ceasefire
Zelenskyy said that the summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska on Friday is a 'personal victory' for Putin, 'because he is meeting on US territory', and because he 'has somehow postponed sanctions'.
Zelenskyy also said he had received a 'first signal' from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without providing further details.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the meeting in Alaska's capital, Anchorage, would be 'a listening exercise for the president', and that the aim was for him 'to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war'.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov spoke on the phone on Tuesday. The US State Department said that 'both sides confirmed their commitment to ensure a successful event' in Alaska.
Politics and diplomacy
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Putin spoke with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about his upcoming meeting with Trump. Putin also expressed appreciation for North Korea's support in the 'liberation of the Kursk Region from the invading forces of the Kyiv regime', the ministry said in a post on Telegram.
Zelenskyy held calls with the president of Turkiye, the emir of Qatar, the president of Romania and the prime minister of the Netherlands on Tuesday.
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About 12:00 GMT, European leaders and NATO members held a video conference with Zelenskyy. Roughly an hour later, Trump and Vice President JD Vance joined the discussion. Chancellor Merz and President Zelenskyy then delivered joint statements, followed by a separate address from Trump at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Later in the day, the 'Coalition of the Willing', a group of 31 countries committed to strengthening support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, met in a separate virtual session, issuing a statement. What were the key takeaways from all these talks? Here is a breakdown. Following the talks with other European leaders and Trump: Merz said that European and Ukrainian security interests must be respected at Friday's Alaska summit. He underlined the importance of Ukraine having a seat at the table in any peace discussions, with a ceasefire as the essential first step. 'We have made it clear that Ukraine will be at the table as soon as there is a follow-up meeting,' Merz told reporters in Berlin alongside Zelenskyy. 'President Trump wants to make a ceasefire a priority,' he added. Any territorial exchange in Ukraine 'must only be discussed with Ukraine', French President Macron told reporters in Bregancon, France, following the call. 'Trump was very clear on the fact that the US wants to obtain a ceasefire at this meeting in Alaska,' Macron said. 'We must continue to support Ukraine, and when I say 'we', I mean Europeans and Americans,' he added. Ukraine needs credible security guarantees as part of any peace deal, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer said following the virtual summit. The United Kingdom's support for Ukraine is 'unwavering', he added. Zelenskyy, during the news conference with Merz, said Putin is 'bluffing' about being interested in peace. 'Russia is attempting to portray itself as capable of occupying all of Ukraine. That is undoubtedly what they want,' Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader also warned that 'talks about us, without us, will not work'. 'Everything concerning Ukraine must be discussed exclusively with Ukraine. We must prepare a trilateral format for talks. There must be a ceasefire,' Zelenskyy added. He also said 'there must be security guarantees – truly reliable ones'. Among the agreed principles, Zelenskyy said, is that Russia must not be allowed to block Ukraine's path to joining the European Union or NATO, and that peace talks should go hand in hand with maintaining pressure on Russia. The Ukrainian leader also emphasised that sanctions should be strengthened if Russia fails to agree to a ceasefire during the Alaska summit. 'These are effective principles. It is important that they work,' Zelenskyy added. Thank you for your support! — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 13, 2025 Following the call, Trump spoke at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC: 'We had a very good call. I would rate it a 10, very friendly,' Trump explained. The US leader then went on to discuss potential next steps ahead of Friday's meeting. 'There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting, which will be more productive than the first. Because the first is: I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing,' he said. Trump also mentioned the possibility of a later meeting 'between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there', after the first meeting between him and Putin. Trump also said he plans to call Zelenskyy and other European leaders after Friday's discussions with Putin. The US president also said there will be 'very severe consequences' for Russia if Putin doesn't agree to end the war after Friday's meeting. 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The coalition issued a statement outlining four key requirements they believe should form the basis of Friday's talks. They said 'meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or a lasting and significant cessation of hostilities'. Second, if Russia refuses a ceasefire in Alaska, sanctions and other economic measures should be intensified to further strain its war economy. Third, 'international borders must not be changed by force'. Fourth, Ukraine should receive strong security guarantees, with the Coalition of the Willing ready to help, including a reassurance force after hostilities end. 'No limitations should be placed on Ukraine's armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries,' the statement said. And Russia cannot veto Ukraine's path to EU or NATO membership. Will the European intervention influence the Alaska summit? It's unclear, but analysts say that Wednesday's calls show how Europe has managed to make sure that Trump can't ignore the continent. 'Even if certain commitments are given, we don't know what will happen once Putin and Trump find themselves in a room,' Lucian Kim, a senior analyst for Ukraine with the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera. 'The Europeans have quite a lot of power and even more than they realise themselves,' he said, adding that it was an 'achievement' for European leaders to get Trump's attention, and there is now a difference in tone. 'It was not a given when Trump first got into office that he would listen to the Europeans,' he said. Kim also noted that Europe has used its power and influence to pressure Russia over the war. 'Russia was heavily dependent on Europe, not the United States, and this lack of trade is hurting Russia,' he said. 'Also, you have European banks that are holding hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian government assets.' 'Trump has realised that without the Europeans, it will be very hard to reach any solution in Ukraine.' What has Russia said so far about any peace agreement? On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexey Fadeev told a press conference that Moscow's position remained unchanged since President Putin outlined it in June 2024. At the time, Putin had said that a ceasefire would take effect immediately if the Ukrainian government withdrew from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russia — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He also insisted that Ukraine must formally abandon its bid to join the NATO military alliance. Russia currently controls about 19 percent of Ukraine, including the entirety of Crimea and Luhansk, over 70 percent of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as small portions of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,267
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Trump also said that his meeting with Putin could swiftly be followed by a second that would include the leader of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump did not specify what the consequences could be if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire, but he has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday proves fruitless. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders had laid out terms for a ceasefire in Ukraine that would protect their security interests in a call with Trump on Wednesday. European leaders, including Zelenskyy, held the call with Trump in advance of his meeting with Putin. Britain, France and Germany – co-chairs of the so-called 'Coalition of the Willing' – set out their position on the pathway to a ceasefire in Ukraine, in a statement released after their virtual meeting. 'Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,' they said in the joint statement. 'The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role, including through plans by those willing to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased,' they said. 'No limitations should be placed on Ukraine's armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia could not have a veto against Ukraine's pathway to EU and NATO,' they added. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Trump there should be robust security guarantees as part of any peace deal with Russia. 'The Prime Minister was clear that our support for Ukraine is unwavering – international borders must not be changed by force and Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal,' Starmer's office said. Zelenskyy said he warned Trump that the Russian leader is 'bluffing' about his desire to end the war. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' deputy spokesperson, Alexei Fadeev, said Moscow's stance on ending the war in Ukraine has not changed since Putin set out his conditions last year, which include the full withdrawal of Kyiv's forces from key Ukrainian regions and the abandonment of its NATO ambitions. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russia wants to include a reduction of NATO troop presence in any conversations about the future of Ukraine. Regional affairs Russian hackers briefly took control of a dam in Norway earlier this year, the head of the Nordic country's counter-intelligence agency said, the first time Oslo has officially attributed the cyberattack to its neighbour. While in command of the dam in Bremanger, western Norway, on April 7, hackers opened a flood gate and released 500 litres (132 gallons) of water per second for four hours before the attack was detected and stopped. Joint exercises to be held by Russian and Belarusian forces next month will include drills on the planned use of nuclear weapons and the Russian-made, intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile, Belarus's defence minister said. Estonia is expelling a Russian diplomat over sanctions violations and other crimes against the state, the Baltic country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The first secretary of the Russian embassy in Tallinn has been declared 'persona non grata' and must leave Estonia, the ministry said. Moscow said Estonia's expulsion was a hostile act that would prompt a response. Military aid Germany plans to fund a $500m package of military equipment and munitions for Ukraine sourced from the US, NATO said in a statement. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte commended Germany for the decision, adding: 'This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.' A Czech-led initiative for Ukraine has delivered one million large-calibre ammunition pieces so far this year, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said. The Czech government expects the number of ammunition shipments will rise this year after deliveries of 1.5 million pieces, including 500,000 155mm shells, in 2024. Poland has signed a contract worth $3.8bn to upgrade its fleet of F-16 fighter jets, the Polish defence minister said. Poland has been ramping up defence spending since the start of the war in Ukraine and plans to allocate 5 percent of gross domestic product to its armed forces in 2026. The European Commission has signed a guarantee agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development for a 500-million-euro ($586m) loan to help Ukraine's energy sector.
