Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,273

On Wednesday, August 20, this is how things are going.

Fighting

• According to The Kyiv Independent news outlet, Russian authorities on Monday returned the remains of 1, 000 Ukrainian soldiers, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
• Russia’s state-run TASS news agency confirmed that Ukraine had returned 19 Russian soldiers’ bodies, adding that Russia had returned the bodies of 1, 000.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, about 1, 370 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a single day, according to TASS. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify this assertion.
• According to Serhii Horbunov, the head of the Kostiantynivka City Military Administration, 250 kg (550 lbs) bombs were dropped on the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region on Monday. According to Horbunov, at least two people were hurt, and one apartment building was damaged as well.
• Two emergency workers in the Kharkiv district of Ukraine were hurt by a Russian drone attack on an ambulance, according to a post on Telegram from regional police.
• According to Yevgeny Balitsky, governor of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia region, a Ukrainian drone attack reportedly caused a power outage in the region.
• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station’s operation was unaffected by the attack, TASS later reported.
• According to a TASS report that did not mention casualties, local officials in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia city of Kamianka-Dniprovska reported “massive” shelling from Ukrainian forces, which reportedly caused at least six explosions and damaged a hospital.
• The brother of Vitaly Milonov, a member of the lower house of parliament in Russia, was killed, according to TASS, after being injured in the Ukrainian Luhansk region by “military action.” When the lawmaker’s brother got hurt, the TASS reports, he was volunteering for the Russian army intelligence.
• In recent months, 52, 000 people have been evicted from Ukraine’s Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions in response to fighting, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Peace talks

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, “are in the process of setting it up,” according to Trump in a proposed bilateral meeting. Trump made the comment during a radio interview the day after meeting with Zelenskyy and several other European leaders.
• Despite the International Criminal Court’s existing arrest warrant, the nation’s foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, stated that Switzerland would be willing to host Putin for peace talks.
• Trump told Fox News that US support for Ukraine might be “by air,” while European nations “are willing to put people on the ground.” He also gave details on how the US might approach security guarantees for Ukraine.
• Trump and other White House officials gave no further details, but Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US air support was “an option and a possibility.”
• Leavitt stated in a press release that the president has made it clear that US boots will not be deployed in Ukraine, but that we can undoubtedly assist in the coordination and perhaps offer our European allies additional security guarantees.
• Security guarantees for Ukraine were discussed by Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
• Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, stated that future peace negotiations must include Europe and Ukraine in order for it to become a member of the EU.