RUSSIA ADVANCES IN EASTERN UKRAINE
Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, suggested Russian advances could increase pressure on Ukraine to yield territory under any deal. “This breakthrough is like a gift to Putin and Trump during the negotiations,” he said.
Despite a troop shortage, Ukraine’s military said it had retaken two villages in the eastern region of Sumy on Monday, part of a small reversal in more than a year of slow, attritional Russian gains in the southeast.
Russia mounted a new offensive this year in Sumy after Putin demanded a “buffer zone” there.
Ukraine and its European allies fear that Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and seal new business deals with Russia’s government, will end up rewarding Putin for 11 years of efforts to seize Ukrainian territory, the last three in open warfare.
European leaders have said Ukraine must be capable of defending itself if peace and security are to be guaranteed on the continent, and that they are ready to contribute further.
“Ukraine cannot lose this war and nobody has the right to pressure Ukraine into making territorial or other concessions, or making decisions that smack of capitulation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a government meeting. “I hope we can convince President Trump about the European position.”
Zelenskyy has said he and European leaders “all support President Trump’s determination.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin’s principal ally in Europe, was the only leader not to join the EU’s statement of unity. He mocked his counterparts as “sidelined” and said Russia had already defeated Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war,” Orban told the “Patriot” YouTube channel in an interview. Trump had been recently hardening his stance towards Russia, agreeing to send more US weapons to Ukraine and threatening hefty trade tariffs on buyers of Russian oil in an ultimatum that has now lapsed.
