Listed below are the important thing occasions on day 1,271 of Russia’s battle on Ukraine.
Right here is how issues stand on Monday, August 18:
Politics and diplomacy
- The leaders of a number of European international locations introduced that they may accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fulfill with United States President Donald Trump on the White Home on Monday to debate ending Russia’s battle on Ukraine.
- The leaders accompanying Zelenskyy will likely be: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte.
- White Home envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to “sturdy safety ensures” for Ukraine that have been “game-changing” at a summit with Trump in Alaska on Friday.
- Zelenskyy welcomed Witkoff’s announcement, saying it was “a historic choice that america is prepared to participate in safety ensures for Ukraine”. Nonetheless, he added that the ensures “should be developed with Europe’s participation”.
- Macron mentioned that European leaders would ask “to what extent” Washington would take part within the safety ensures on Monday. Macron additionally mentioned that “there is just one state proposing a peace that may be a capitulation: Russia”.
- Von der Leyen welcomed the proposal as a suggestion of NATO-style safety ensures from the US, including that the “coalition of the prepared, together with the European Union, is able to do its share”.
- Russian Ministry of Overseas Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in an announcement shared on Telegram on Sunday, mentioned that Macron’s claims of capitulation have been an “abject lie”.
- In an interview with CNN, Witkoff additionally mentioned that Russia had “made some concessions” in relation to “all 5 of these areas”, in an obvious reference to the Ukrainian areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Crimea.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned on NBC {that a} ceasefire “just isn’t off the desk” however “what we in the end are aiming for is an finish to this battle”, a day after Trump mentioned he was aiming for a peace settlement with out a prior ceasefire.
- Trump posted on his Reality Social platform on Sunday morning, merely saying: “BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!”, with out elaborating.
Preventing
- Russian forces killed 5 individuals and injured 4 in Ukraine’s Donetsk area, Governor Vadym Filashkin mentioned in a put up on Telegram on Sunday. The assaults killed two individuals in Raiske, two extra individuals in Sviatohorivka, and one particular person in Kostiantynivka, Filashkin mentioned.
- 4 individuals have been injured in a Ukrainian drone assault on a industrial facility within the village of Rakitnoye in Russia’s Belgorod area, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov mentioned in a put up on Telegram on Sunday.
- Russia’s state-run TASS information company reported on Sunday that in whole, Ukrainian forces struck 13 places throughout Belgorod in at some point, utilizing 111 drones and 52 munitions.
- TASS additionally reported on Sunday that Russian forces shot down 4 aerial bombs and 300 drones previously day.
- The Basic Employees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that Ukrainian forces cleared the town of Pokrovsk of Russian forces and occupiers. Ukrainian forces superior as much as 1km (0.6 miles), within the Yablunivka space of the Sumy area, the Basic Employees added in a put up on Telegram on Sunday.