There has been no let-up in the fighting as Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles overnight in an attack on the Ukrainian air force, according to the Ukrainian air force, as diplomatic efforts to put an end to the grinding conflict in Ukraine are getting stronger in Washington.
Large fires in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine’s only oil refinery, were the result of massive fires on Tuesday, according to the energy ministry of Ukraine.
The most recent attack, which occurred one day after Donald Trump met with European leaders in the White House to discuss his peace efforts, was the largest of the month.
As part of agreements reached earlier this year during peace talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, Russia and Ukraine both said they exchanged more of their fallen soldiers’ bodies on Tuesday.
“We gave the Ukrainian side 1, 000 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers today,” the statement read. Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s delegation during the three discussions facilitated by Turkiye, said on Telegram that they gave us 19 and that they had already given us that.
The International Committee of the Red Cross thanked Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for its assistance in coordinating the treatment of prisoners of war, who had received the bodies of 1, 000 of its servicemen.
Moscow and Kyiv held three additional rounds of peace talks in Istanbul on May 16, June 2, and July 23, which ended in significant prisoner swaps and draft draft memorandums outlining both sides’ positions that the other side wouldn’t accept for a potential peace deal.
Following last week’s summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and a follow-up meeting between Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders in Washington on Monday, peace efforts advanced.
Potential land swaps and security guarantees are said to be the biggest sticking points in the peace negotiations.
While peace talks are taking place, Ukraine and its supporters in Europe have called for a ceasefire on numerous occasions.
Putin has refrained from doing so. He has little incentive to stop his forces from moving in Ukraine with their advance.
Trump threatened Russia with “severe consequences” if it refused to accept a ceasefire ahead of his meeting with the Russian leader last week. After that, he dropped the request and said it was preferable to concentrate on a comprehensive peace agreement, as Putin has demanded.
security assurances
Ukraine wants assurances that it can stop any further attacks by the Kremlin’s forces in order to reach a peace agreement with Russia. That would require a powerful Ukrainian army, according to Zelenskyy, who is given training and weapons by Western allies.
It might also mean providing Ukraine with a guarantee akin to NATO’s Collective Defense Mandat Article 5, which states that an attack on one alliance member is regarded as an attack on all. It’s unclear how that would operate.
Additionally, Kyiv’s allies in Europe are looking to establish a force that could thwart any Ukrainian peace agreements. The role that the US might play in such a force is still to be seen, but 30 countries, including those from Europe, Japan, and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative.
Russian territorial ambitions won’t stop in Ukraine, and European leaders want to enlist US military force in the effort.
Trump promised US “coordination,” but he didn’t commit American boots to the ground in the effort instead promising US “coordination.”
Russia has repeatedly refrained from establishing such a force, saying it will not accept Ukrainian forces from NATO.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired a coalition-country meeting online. A virtual meeting with Trump and European leaders will be held after the two sides have more in-depth discussions, according to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
According to Zelenskyy and other European leaders, Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up the industrialized region of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, which has experienced some of the most bloody fighting but which Russian forces have failed to completely capture.
Russia’s forces also occupy Crimea and six of its annexations, totaling roughly one-fifth of Ukraine. Russian presence in these areas is generally opposed by the international community.
A breakthrough in providing security guarantees to Ukraine is essential, according to Anna Matveeva, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London, to enable territorial swaps.
According to Matveeva, “Security guarantees were a way to give something to the Europeans so that they have some sort of meat to chew while Trump is making some real progress with Zelenskyy and Putin on a separate track.”
“Putin has apparently agreed to some Western security guarantees,” she continued.
Trump also stated on Tuesday that he hoped Putin would move quickly to end the conflict in Ukraine, but that he might not want to do so because it would lead to a “rough situation” for Putin.
Trump criticized Putin’s course of action in an interview on Fox News program Fox & Friends: “We might find out about him in the next few weeks…. It’s possible he doesn’t want to make a deal.”
Trump predicted at the talks on Monday that Russia would not make an explicit commitment to a meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy. Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Tuesday that any meetings of national leaders “must be prepared with utmost thoroughness,” but that it did not oppose any discussions of the Ukrainian peace process.
Osama Bin Javaid, a journalist from Moscow, added that the possibility of a “bilateral or trilateral meeting” was being discussed with European leaders and Zelenskyy.