LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is making ready for “new offensive operations” regardless of Friday’s looming peace summit in Alaska — and as Russian forces seem to have scored vital frontline success in japanese Ukraine.
Fierce frontline combat 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 informed ABC Information on Monday that “every little thing could be very fluid.”
Zelenskyy and his officers have gone on a diplomatic offensive forward of the assembly, looking for to shore up international help behind Ukraine’s key calls for in any peace deal.
On Monday, Zelenskyy steered that Putin will not be 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 essential defensive metropolis of Pokrovsk — within the east of the nation — advancing at the very least six miles towards the city of Dobropillia.
The breach might give Russian forces a chance 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, through which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems on throughout a signature ceremony of Settlement on Safety Cooperation and Lengthy-term Assist between Ukraine and Estonia throughout the European Council Summit on the EU headquarters in Brussels, Donald Trump trying 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 by way of Getty Photographs
Citing a report from his intelligence and army instructions, Zelenskyy mentioned in a press release that Putin “is certainly not making ready for a ceasefire or an finish to the battle. 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 strain on Ukraine as earlier than.”
Zelenskyy mentioned on Telegram on Monday, “Up to now, there isn’t any indication in any way that the Russians have acquired indicators to organize for a post-war state of affairs. Quite the opposite, they’re redeploying their troops and forces in ways in which counsel preparations for brand new offensive operations.”
“If somebody is making ready for peace, this isn’t what he does,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
Zelenskyy has mentioned Kyiv won’t cede any territory to Russia, won’t abandon its NATO ambitions and won’t permit 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 scale and class of its army and be completely excluded from NATO. Putin additionally desires all worldwide sanctions on Russia to be lifted within the occasion of a peace deal.
Russia’s calls for, Zelenskyy has mentioned, 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 getting in to talk to Vladimir, and I’ll be telling him, ‘You bought to finish this battle. 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 mentioned.
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 system 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.
