Listed here are the important thing occasions on day 1,268 of Russia’s struggle on Ukraine.
Right here is how issues stand on Friday, August 15:
Preventing
- Ukrainian drones struck two Russian cities in assaults that injured not less than 16 individuals, native authorities stated.
- 13 individuals had been wounded, two critically, when a drone struck an house constructing within the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, and three civilians had been wounded within the metropolis of Belgorod close to the border with Ukraine.
- The Ukrainian navy stated its drones hit a Russian refinery within the Volgograd area in a single day, inflicting large fires.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry stated Russian forces captured the settlements of Shcherbynivka and Andriivka-Klevtsove in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area.
- Ukrainian troops have stabilised an space of japanese Ukraine the place Russian forces had made a sudden push this week to pierce Ukrainian defences, the Donetsk area’s Governor Vadym Filashkin stated.
- Ukraine stated small teams of Russian infantry had thrust some 10 kilometres (six miles) in direction of its most important defensive position close to the city of Dobropillia, elevating fears of a wider breakthrough on the entrance line that might additional threaten key Ukrainian cities.
- The Russian advance, coming as United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are as a result of meet in Alaska on Friday, seems geared toward pressuring Kyiv to surrender land in return for peace with Russia, observers stated.
Alaska summit
- Trump stated he believes Putin is able to finish his struggle in Ukraine, talking on the eve of Friday’s summit between the 2 leaders within the metropolis of Anchorage, however a peace deal would seemingly require not less than a second assembly involving Ukraine’s chief, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Trump and Putin will meet face-to-face on Friday earlier than holding a joint information convention, White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated.
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Trump will go into talks with Putin hoping to realize a halt to the preventing in Ukraine, however an answer to the struggle will take longer, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated.
- Putin stated the US was making “honest efforts” to halt the struggle in Ukraine and instructed Moscow and Washington might agree on a nuclear arms deal as a part of a wider effort to strengthen peace.
- Putin stated “in an effort to create long-term situations for peace between our nations, and in Europe, and on this planet as an entire”, there might be agreements reached “within the space of management over strategic offensive weapons”.
- The Kremlin warned it could be an enormous mistake to foretell the result of the upcoming summit, the state-run Interfax information company reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated there have been no plans to signal any paperwork following the summit.
- The talks in Alaska between Trump and Putin current a viable probability to make progress on ending the struggle in Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s workplace stated in an announcement.
Army help
- Zelenskyy stated he had an in depth dialogue on potential safety ensures for Ukraine throughout a “productive assembly” with the UK’s Starmer.
- Zelenskyy stated Kyiv had up to now secured $1.5bn from its European allies to purchase US weapons as a part of a mechanism – the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Necessities Record initiative – that he stated “actually strengthens our defence”.
- French President Emmanuel Macron stated Trump expressed a willingness to European leaders on Wednesday that the US and different allies must be a part of giving Ukraine safety ensures to finish Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.
- The US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) didn’t monitor the makes use of of 5,175 Starlink terminals despatched to Ukraine, with almost half of the operational items ending up in areas absolutely or partly held by Moscow, in accordance with a report by the company’s inner watchdog.
Prisoners of struggle
- The United Arab Emirates has efficiently mediated a brand new change of captives between Russia and Ukraine. Some 84 captives had been launched from both sides, bringing the entire quantity exchanged by way of UAE mediation to 4,349.
- Ukraine introduced dwelling 84 prisoners of struggle that included 51 civilians, Ukrainian officers stated, not less than one in every of whom had been held for greater than a decade.
Regional developments
- Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un throughout an official go to to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament stated. Volodin, an in depth ally of Putin, conveyed greetings from the Russian chief and thanked Kim for North Korea’s assist of Russia’s navy marketing campaign in Ukraine.
Financial system
- Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko ordered a assessment of all licences to mine strategic minerals within the nation, as a part of a broader effort to assist the war-ravaged economic system and safe new investments beneath a minerals cope with the US.
