Latest news with #1st'Azov'Corps
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Ukraine launches drone attacks on southern Russia ahead of Trump-Putin summit
Ukraine launched drone attacks on cities in southern Russia, killing one person and injuring at least 16 more — just a day before President Trump's meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. A Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in Rostov-on-Don, injuring 13 people who were transferred to medical facilities for treatment, according to the region's Governor Yury Slyusar. In another attack, Ukraine's drone strike in Belgorod injured three people, according to local officials. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region, posted a video appearing to showcase the drone striking a car in the city, located around 24 miles north of the Ukraine border. Gladkov, in another Thursday post on Telegram, said that a Ukrainian drone struck a car, killing one individual in the village of Pristen. Ukraine's officials have not commented on the attacks. The governor of the Volgograd region, Andrei Bocharov, claimed late Wednesday that debris from a Ukrainian military drone attack caused oil to spill at a local refinery and catch fire The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its defense systems intercepted 44 of Ukraine's drones, destroying or intercepting nine over the Volgograd region, on Wednesday and early Thursday. The drone attacks come as the Russian military has made advances in the eastern region of Donetsk this week, forcing Ukraine's 1st 'Azov' Corps to engage and contain the offensive. Trump is set to huddle with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage on Friday, the Russian president's first visit to the U.S. since 2015. Putin and Trump will hold a joint press conference after their meeting, where they will likely discuss the developments on the battlefield in Eastern Europe. 'The president wants to exhaust all options to try to bring this war to a peaceful resolution,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her appearance on 'Fox & Friends' early Thursday. Trump and Putin's last in-person meeting was in Helsinki in 2018 during the president's first White House term.
The Hill
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Russia pierces Ukraine's frontline in push ahead of Trump-Putin summit
The Russian military has pierced pockets of Ukraine's frontlines in the eastern Donetsk region this week, pushing forward just days before Russia's President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with President Trump in Alaska. Russian troops have made gains in a push toward Dobropillia, a city some 60 miles northwest of Donetsk city, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian group linked to the military that tracks battlefield advances through open-source data. In response, Ukraine's 1st 'Azov' Corps confirmed on Tuesday that it was tasked with containing the Kremlin's advances. 'The situation remains complex and dynamic. The enemy is attempting to advance in this direction at the cost of significant losses in manpower and equipment,' the unit said Tuesday on social media. 'Units within the corps have planned and carried out actions to block enemy forces in the area.' The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in its analysis on late Monday that Russia's drones strikes at longer ranges are 'likely forcing Ukrainian forces to take alternative roads and further stretch [ground lines of communication], which is likely impacting Ukraine's defensive operations that rely on the consistent flow of equipment, supplies and manpower.' Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with Black Bird Group, a Finnish group that closely tracks the Russia-Ukraine war, said Monday that Ukraine's forces have a 'crisis on their hands.' 'Ukrainians will almost certainly rush in reinforcements to the area, but from where and at what cost? Ukrainians are unlikely to have plenty of ready operational or strategic reserves, which means that the forces need to come off other sections of the frontline,' Paroinen wrote. 'This in turn will open further possibilities for the Russians to exploit elsewhere. Be as it may, there is likely no other choice.' As the fighting has continued in eastern Ukraine, Trump, along with European leaders and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, held a joint meeting Wednesday, organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, to discuss the president's upcoming huddle with Putin in Anchorage. In a joint press conference after the call, Zelensky said he warned Trump that Putin is 'bluffing' about his openness to a peace deal. Merz said any negotiations over territory must use the frontlines as a 'starting point,' but ruled out international recognition of Russia's occupation. Some European officials have expressed concerns that the president could cut a bad deal with the Russian leader. The president said Monday the meeting was a chance to 'feel out' Putin, who has not publicly backed off his maximalist demands to topple Ukraine's government. Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine might be asked to withdraw its military from Donbas — the eastern region that includes Donetsk and Luhansk — in exchange for a ceasefire, pointing to discussions with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin in Moscow last week. Zelensky said he was not 'ready to discuss Ukraine's territories, as this is solely a matter of our Constitution.' Trump has chafed at Zelensky's resistance to territorial concessions, once again blaming the Ukrainian leader for Russia's invasion on Monday. Russian aerial attacks continued overnight, with the Kremlin firing 49 drones and two missiles in at least three regions, according to Ukraine's Air Force. 'At present, there is no sign that the Russians are preparing to end the war. Our coordinated efforts and joint actions – of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and all countries that seek peace – can definitely compel Russia to make peace. I thank everyone who is helping,' Zelensky said on Wednesday on the social media platform X.
