LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is getting ready for “new offensive operations” regardless of Friday’s looming peace summit in Alaska — and as Russian forces seem to have scored important frontline success in japanese Ukraine.
Fierce frontline fight and long-range drone and missile strikes are ongoing because the U.S. and Russia put together for Friday’s assembly. Ukrainian representatives should not anticipated to attend, although a supply in Zelenskyy’s workplace advised ABC Information on Monday that “all the pieces could be very fluid.”
Zelenskyy and his officers have gone on a diplomatic offensive forward of the assembly, searching for to shore up overseas assist behind Ukraine’s key calls for in any peace deal.
On Monday, Zelenskyy urged that Putin isn’t prepared to finish the combating, regardless of Friday’s assembly in Alaska.
The president’s warning got here as Russian troops broke by means of an space of the entrance north of the vital defensive metropolis of Pokrovsk — within the east of the nation — advancing a minimum of six miles towards the city of Dobropillia.
The breach might give Russian forces a possibility to drive a wedge between two Ukraine’s key japanese defensive hubs — Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka — and imperil different cities within the area.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on June 27, 2024, wherein Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to be on throughout a signature ceremony of Settlement on Safety Cooperation and Lengthy-term Help between Ukraine and Estonia through the European Council Summit on the EU headquarters in Brussels, Donald Trump wanting on throughout a gathering with France’s President on the Elysee Palace in Paris, on December 7, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin as he provides a speech throughout an occasion to mark the 1160th anniversary of Russia’s statehood in Veliky Novgorod on September 21, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/POOL/Sputnik/AFP through Getty Photographs
Citing a report from his intelligence and navy instructions, Zelenskyy stated in a press release that Putin “is unquestionably not getting ready for a ceasefire or an finish to the warfare. Putin is decided solely to current a gathering with America as his private victory after which proceed performing precisely as earlier than, making use of the identical stress on Ukraine as earlier than.”
Zelenskyy stated on Telegram on Monday, “To this point, there is no such thing as a indication in any respect that the Russians have acquired alerts to organize for a post-war state of affairs. Quite the opposite, they’re redeploying their troops and forces in ways in which recommend preparations for brand new offensive operations.”
“If somebody is getting ready for peace, this isn’t what he does,” Zelenskyy stated.
Zelenskyy has stated Kyiv won’t cede any territory to Russia, won’t abandon its NATO ambitions and won’t enable any limitations on its armed forces.
Amongst Moscow’s calls for are that Ukraine cede a number of areas — not all of that are managed by Russian troops — within the south and east of the nation, settle for curbs on the dimensions and class of its navy and be completely excluded from NATO. Putin additionally needs all worldwide sanctions on Russia to be lifted within the occasion of a peace deal.
Russia’s calls for, Zelenskyy has stated, represent an try to “partition Ukraine.”
President Donald Trump on Monday described the approaching summit as a “really feel out assembly,” telling reporters, “I am entering into to talk to Vladimir, and I will be telling him, ‘You bought to finish this warfare. You bought to finish it’.”
“And on the finish of that assembly, in all probability within the first two minutes, I am going to know precisely whether or not or not a deal might be made,” Trump stated.
When requested how he would know if a deal is feasible, the president replied, “As a result of that is what I do. I make offers.”
A Ukrainian sapper detonates an explosive machine throughout a coaching session in Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on August 9, 2025.
Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
ABC Information’ Ellie Kaufman, Oleksiy Pshemyskyi, Kelsey Walsh and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
