Book of the day: The World of the Cold War 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok
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NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Zelenskyy rules out withdrawing from Donbas, saying it would open bridgehead for Russia
The Donbas encompasses the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both of which Russia claims as its own and has sought to control since its invasion began in 2022. Zelenskyy said the summit would effectively postpone new US sanctions on Russia - sanctions that Trump had promised to impose if Putin refused to halt his war. 'First, he will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory. Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions,' Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy also said he had received a 'signal' from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without elaborating. 'This was the first signal from them,' Zelenskyy said. To prepare for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told a US radio show earlier that Trump did not regard the meeting as a 'concession' to Russia. The White House confirmed that the meeting came about after Putin requested it. Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the aim was 'for the President is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war'. 'No equipment' On the battlefield, Zelenskyy warned Russia had made sharp advances near the coal mining town of Dobropillia and was planning new ground assaults on at least three different areas of the front line. 'Russian units have advanced 10km deep in several spots. They all have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. 'Some have already been found, some destroyed, some taken prisoner. We will find the rest and destroy them in the near future,' Zelenskyy said. A map published by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties with Ukraine's military, showed Russia had made a double-pronged advance around 10km deep in a narrow section of the front line near Dobropillia. Dobropillia, home to around 30,000 people before the war, has come under regular Russian drone attacks. The advance also threatens the largely destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. Russian forces have been accelerating their advances for months, pressing their advantage against overstretched Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian Army said today it was engaged in 'difficult' battles with Russian forces in the east, but denied Russia had a foothold near Dobropillia. 'The situation is difficult and dynamic,' it said in a statement. 'New offensive' The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think-tank, said Russia was sending small sabotage groups forwards. It said it was 'premature' to call the Russian advances around Dobropillia 'an operational-level breakthrough'. A Ukrainian military group that oversees parts of the front in the Donetsk region also said Russia was probing Ukrainian lines with small sabotage groups, describing battles as 'complex, unpleasant, and dynamic'. Trump has described his summit with Putin as a chance to check the Russian leader's ideas for ending the war. European leaders have sought to ensure respect for Kyiv's interests. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them. Ukrainian police said that Russian attacks in the past hours had killed three people and wounded 12 others, including a child. -Agence France-Presse
NZ Herald
7 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Putin's key aim has not changed - a Moscow-friendly government in Ukraine
For European diplomats, officials and analysts, Vladimir Putin has done little to soften his long-standing war aims in Ukraine. They say the Russian President wants nothing less than a Kremlin-friendly government in Kyiv, Ukraine blocked from joining Nato, and the size of its armed forces curtailed.
NZ Herald
7 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Trump sets a low bar for high-stakes summit and avoids key issues for Kyiv
He added, 'I may leave and say good luck, and that'll be the end.' Trump's own description of his goals for the negotiation, the most high-stakes international meeting yet in his second term, were telling — as much for what he omitted as for what he included. And that is what worries both the Ukrainians and Washington's European allies, who have committed to keep arming Ukraine no matter the outcome in Anchorage. What wasn't mentioned Ceasefire Zelenskyy, who has not been invited to join the talks in Alaska, has said that any agreement must start with a some kind of truce or ceasefire so that negotiations were not being conducted amid continued air attacks and territorial grabs. Trump has not stipulated that a truce must come first. Guarantees During his hour-long news conference, he never once mentioned security guarantees for Ukraine, intended to assure that Putin does not exploit a break in the fighting or new territorial gains as his moment to regroup, rearm and resume his effort to seize the whole country. Support Nor did Trump commit to making sure that Ukraine has the arms, intelligence and co-operation it needs to defend its territory and deter Russia from future attacks. His Vice-President, JD Vance, a longtime critic of American aid to Ukraine, was quite explicit during an appearance on Fox News. 'We're done with the funding of the Ukraine war business,' he said, insisting that the only way American arms would make it into Ukrainian hands would be if European allies bought and transferred them. A sense of haste Trump's comments came as the White House scrambled to make arrangements for one of the most hastily assembled summits of recent times. Usually, such sessions are preceded by detailed advance negotiations, with prearranged agreements and communiqués. Trump seemed to suggest that he was walking into this discussion with none of those, though European officials say they have seen evidence that, at lower levels, Russian and American officials are talking. Adding to the sense of haste, the White House has still not said where, exactly, the meeting will be held, how long it is expected to last or whether at the end Trump will preside over a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, two avowed enemies. Influencing Trump The risk now, as even some of Trump's Republican allies have conceded, is that Putin will see an opportunity to flatter Trump, play for time, and perhaps win him over to the Russian leader's own interpretation of events. Recent history suggests that Trump is inclined to accept Putin's version of reality. This year he suggested that Ukraine was responsible for the invasion of its own territory, and he refused to join America's traditional Western allies in voting for a United Nations resolution condemning Russia's aggression. Earlier this week, Zelenskyy worried aloud that Trump could be easily 'deceived'. For that reason, European and Nato officials — who mollified Trump at the alliance's summit in the Netherlands in June by pledging to spend 3.5% of their gross domestic product on defence over the next decade — are now carefully trying to hedge him in. They arranged a video call for tomorrow with Trump, aware that they will not be in the room in Alaska, so their power is limited to persuading him beforehand and risking his wrath by dissenting later. One of the most explicit warnings to Trump came from the Secretary-General of Nato, Mark Rutte, a former Netherlands Prime Minister who has invested heavily in developing a relationship with the President and devised the Nato summit to minimise the chances he would disrupt it. His bet paid off, and Trump sang the alliance's praises, rather than declare that it was 'obsolete', as he did in his first term. Rutte's guardrails But this week, Rutte was clearly drawing some guardrails for the coming negotiation. 'Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,' Rutte said on ABC. 'When it comes to full-scale negotiations, and let's hope that Friday will be an important step in that process', territory will be only one issue, he said. 'It will be, of course, about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation, deciding on its own geopolitical future — of course having no limitations to its own military troop levels,' Rutte said. 'And for Nato, to have no limitations on our presence on the eastern flank.' The dealmaker Trump said none of that in his comments in the White House briefing room yesterday. But he made it clear that striking an agreement was the key. 'I make deals,' he said. Trump has made no secret of his desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize, and has claimed that he was the driving force in recent ceasefires or peace accords in disputes between India and Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and other regional conflicts. 'What's the definition of a good deal?' Trump asked reporters. 'I'll tell you after I hear what the deal is, because there could be many definitions.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: David E. Sanger Photograph by: David Guttenfelder ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
