Russia on Monday ruled out any negotiations “at this stage” with Ukraine following the ongoing cross-border offensive launched by kyiv nearly two weeks ago, while Russian troops continue their advance in eastern Ukraine.
In a war of statements between Moscow and kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that his forces “reach [leurs] “objectives” in the Russian region of Kursk where they launched an operation of unprecedented scale on August 6.
One of his advisers, Mykhailo Podoliak, said on Friday that one of the objectives of this surprise offensive was to force the Kremlin to sit down for “fair” negotiations, and not to permanently occupy the conquered territories.
“At this stage, given this adventure, we will not discuss,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told Russian media on Monday. Shot.
“At this point it would be completely inappropriate to start a negotiation process,” he added.
Peace negotiations between Moscow and kyiv have been non-existent since spring 2022 and the failure of a first round of talks.
Russia continues to demand that Ukraine accept the annexation of part of its territory, while Volodymyr Zelensky believes that peace can only be possible if the Russian army withdraws completely, including from the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The Ukrainian president says he wants to draw up a plan by November, the date of the presidential election in the United States – a vital ally of kyiv – that would serve as the basis for a future peace summit to which the Kremlin should be invited.
Forced evacuations
While the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region has received much attention as it brought hostilities on a large scale to the attacker’s soil for the first time, the epicenter of the fighting remains Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian army announced on Monday that it had captured a new “important” town, that of Zalizné, which had some 5,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion, in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk (east).
The capture of Zalizne (Artiomovo in Russian) comes as Russian forces, more numerous and better equipped, are also approaching the town of Pokrovsk, an important logistical hub.
Following the capture by Russian forces of towns near Pokrovsk in recent days, the regional governor announced on Monday “the forced evacuation of families with children” from this town, which has more than 53,000 inhabitants, including nearly 4,000 children.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian strikes killed four more people in two separate attacks in towns near the front line, Toretsk and Zarichne.
“Buffer zone”
“We are achieving our goals” in the Russian region of Kursk, the Ukrainian president said on Monday, after indicating the day before that the offensive by his troops aimed to “create a buffer zone” between Russia and Ukraine.
According to kyiv, they seized 82 localities and 1,150 km2 while Moscow, for its part, regularly claims to “repel” Ukrainian attacks in depth.
It is the largest foreign military operation on Russian soil since World War II.
On Sunday, kyiv claimed to have destroyed a second bridge on the Russian side of the border, helping to reduce the possibility of reinforcement or withdrawal of the Russian contingent stationed south of the Seim River.
The hostilities have already forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the border area in both countries.
Russian local authorities have also declared a state of emergency in the southwestern Russian city of Proletarsk, where a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday caused fuel storage to catch fire. According to the regional governor, 41 firefighters were injured, 18 of whom had to be hospitalized, including five in intensive care.
The fire was still raging on Monday and, according to regional governor Vasily Golubev, additional resources were being sent to control the blaze.
On the diplomatic front, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected in Ukraine on Friday, where he is expected to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, after meeting Vladimir Putin in early July.
This will be Mr Modi’s first state visit to Ukraine, whose country is a close partner of Moscow.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Russia and Belarus this week amid growing economic and diplomatic cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.
Despite its intention to reduce its budgetary expenditures in favour of kyiv in 2025, Germany, the second largest contributor after the United States, assured on Monday that it remained “fully committed” to its military support for Ukraine.
To compensate for this reduction, Berlin is counting on providing Ukraine with a loan of 50 billion dollars guaranteed by future interest generated by frozen Russian assets.