Russia grabs a bit more of Ukraine as it heads into peace talks
Russian forces made creeping advances through Ukraine’s east this week, as the two countries prepared to hold their first direct talks in three years on Thursday.
Russian forces captured the settlement of Kotlyarivka, southwest of the embattled area of Pokrovsk, on Monday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said.The seizure brought Russian forces to within 3.7km (2.3 miles) of the regional border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine.
Russian forces also forced their way into the village of Myrolyubivka, east of Pokrovsk, and claimed to have taken the entire settlement.On Wednesday, Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed its forces took the community of Mykhailovka, also in Donetsk.
These were minor advances, but showed there was no letup in Russia’s effort to take all of Donetsk and other regions it partly occupies, even as it prepared to go into peace talks.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia was even moving troops into position for a major new offensive, the United Kingdom’s Financial Times reported.
Peace talks
US President Donald Trump called for a 30-day ceasefire on May 8. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, flanked by the leaders of Poland, Germany, France and Britain, backed that demand on Saturday.Despite telling Western reporters Russia would “think about that”, the Kremlin ended up insisting on peace talks without a ceasefire, accusing Ukraine of violating previous ceasefires it announced unilaterally.
Instead, Putin proposed peace talks without conditions at a dawn media conference on Sunday.“We are not ruling out that during these talks we will be able to agree on some new ceasefire, a new truce,” he said.
Zelenskyy has said he would attend the talks in Istanbul if Putin does as well. Putin was expected after his spokesman said Russia would attend “at the corresponding” level, but then his name did not appear on a list of delegates Russia provided.
“If Putin does not show up – if this is another game – it will clearly demonstrate that Russia is not ready to end the war,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media, calling for a new sanctions package in that case.
As of Wednesday night, he was saying: “I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take.”
US President Donald Trump, currently on a Middle East tour, is claiming credit for this diplomatic initiative.
“I insisted that that meeting take place and it is taking place,” he said.
Trump dispatched his Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and said he “was thinking of actually flying over. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host the talks.
