Russia plans to occupy Ukraine east of Dnipro, cut Black Sea access, Ukrainian official says
The remarks come amid continuing Russian offensives in eastern and northern Ukraine, along with escalating diplomatic efforts that have yet to yield a ceasefire.
According to Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), Moscow hopes to seize the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by this fall and establish a buffer zone along Ukraine's northern border with Russia.
The second phase of the plan envisions more ambitious territorial gains, including an advance into southern Ukraine aimed at cutting the country off from the sea.
"Unfortunately, they are not speaking about peace. They are preparing for war," Palisa said during a press briefing at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.
The warning comes days after Russia presented Ukraine with a so-called "peace memorandum" during a second round of negotiations in Istanbul on June 2.
The document, published by Russian state media outlet TASS, demands that Kyiv recognize Russia's claimed annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts — Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk — and fully withdraw from them.
Moscow also calls for Ukraine's demobilization and a formal ban on NATO membership.
During the talks, Ukraine's delegation submitted a separate proposal calling for an all-for-all prisoner exchange, the return of abducted Ukrainian children, and the release of civilians held in Russian captivity.
Kyiv also reiterated its call for a Western-backed 30-day ceasefire as a foundation for future negotiations — a proposal Moscow again rejected.
Ukraine's military leadership has warned that Russian forces are preparing for a major summer offensive in Donetsk Oblast, where daily assaults have continued since 2022.
Despite suffering heavy losses, Russian troops are advancing through mass wave attacks that gain only tens of meters per day. According to the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Moscow currently occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine.
Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukraine strikes Russian missile base in Bryansk Oblast, damages Iskander launchers; Trump dismisses timeline to impose Russian sanctions
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Newsweek
14 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Satellite Images Show How Ukraine Territory Has Changed During Russia War
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Drag slider compare photos Bakhmut After months of bitter clashes since July 2022, the Donetsk city of Bakhmut, north of Avdiivka, fell to Russian forces in May 2023. There was "nothing" left of the city, Zelensky said at the time. "They destroyed everything." Drag slider compare photos Also staring down approaching Russian troops is Kupiansk, a major city in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region. Kupiansk was quickly occupied by Russian forces that swept into the country in February 2022, but Ukrainian troops peeled back Russian control there as part of Kyiv's lightning counteroffensive in September the same year, a success it has not been able to replicate in the years since. But Kupiansk is once again brushing up against the front lines. A Ukrainian soldier fighting close to Kupiansk said on Wednesday that Russian forces were using small groups to find gaps in Ukrainian defenses, according to the ISW.
CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Map shows what parts of Ukraine Putin wants
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Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Ukrainian defenses face a challenge as Russian troops make gains ahead of the Putin-Trump summit
'The key risk for Ukraine is that the Kremlin will try to turn certain local gains on the battlefield into strategic victories at the negotiating table,' he said. Advertisement President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Kyiv still controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the Ukrainian leader categorically rejected. After years of fighting, Russia still does not fully control all of the Donetsk region, which it illegally annexed in 2022, along with the Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Infiltration by small groups of Russian forces Attention has been focused on Pokrovsk — a key highway and rail junction that once was home to about 60,000 and now is partially encircled — but Russian forces have been probing for weaknesses north of the city, according to battlefield analysis site DeepState. The forces found a gap east of the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, and advanced about 10 kilometers (6 miles). Advertisement Zelenskyy noted its clear significance to the summit: 'To create a certain information backdrop ahead of Putin's meeting with Trump, especially in the American information space, suggesting that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing ground.' Small groups of Russian troops are slipping past the first defensive line, hiding and trying to build up their forces, said Dmytro Trehubov, spokesman for Ukraine's 'Dnipro' operational-strategic group. Ukraine's military has been repelling these attempts, he said, although DeepState said the situation has not been stabilized. Analysts described the breach near Dobropillia as a localized crisis that could escalate if the Russians are not neutralized and their main forces can widen the gap. Exploiting an absence of Ukrainian infantry The breach of the defensive line has seemed inevitable for months, according to a drone pilot in the area, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly. Moscow's forces have been exploiting the lack of Ukrainian infantry, a problem tied not only to the country's stalled mobilization but also to poor management, the pilot said. 'We pay with territory and lives to fix mistakes — and we can keep fixing mistakes only as long as we have even a scrap of land left,' the pilot said. Ukrainian forces have tried to plug the gaps by extensive use of first-person-view drones — remotely piloted devices loaded with explosives that allow operators to see targets before striking. These FPVs have turned areas up to 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the front into deadly zones on both sides of the line. But because the Russians attack with small groups, it's hard to counter with drones alone. 'We can't launch 100 FPVs at once,' the pilot said, noting the drone operators would interfere with each other. Advertisement With tactics and technology roughly equal on both sides, the Russians' superior manpower works to their advantage, said Bielieskov, the Kyiv-based analyst. 'They have no regard for human life. Very often, most of those they send are on a one-way mission,' he said. Stopping the infiltrations and assaults by armored vehicles requires different defenses and leadership structures — changes that have yet to appear on Ukraine's side, he said. Ukraine's military said Thursday additional troops have been moved to affected areas, with battle-hardened forces like the Azov brigade being deployed to the sector. However, the Deepstate map doesn't show any changes in favor of the Ukrainian army. Russia's focus on cutting supply routes Michael Kofman, a military analyst for the Carnegie Endowment, said in a post on X that it was too early to assess if the front line was collapsing, Russia is focused on expanding the breach of the front line into a corridor to support its ground forces, Bieleskov said. The strategy avoids direct assaults on heavily fortified urban centers, instead pushing through open terrain where Ukraine's troop shortages and large settlements make defense harder. If successful, such a move could bypass Russia's need to storm Kostiantynivka — once a city of over 67,000 people and now significantly ruined and on the verge of falling. That would complicate defending the region's last big cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka, posing a serious challenge for Ukraine's military. Cmdr. Serhii Filimonov of the 'Da Vinci Wolves' battalion of the 59th brigade, warned that Kostiantynivka could fall without a fight if Russia severs supply routes. With few major roads, maintaining logistics for the large number of Ukrainian forces in the area would become 'extremely difficult,' Filimonov said. Advertisement Turning to the summit, Filimonov decried what he described as ongoing Russian killings and atrocities. 'And then the civilized world comes to them and says, 'Fine, let's make a deal.' That's not how it should be done,' he said. Associated Press reporters Vasilisa Stepanenko, Evgeniy Maloletka and Dmytro Zhyhinas in the Donetsk region and Volodymyr Yurchuk and Alex Babenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
