Ukrainian defences face challenge as Russian troops make gain

Donetsk region: Days before the leaders of Russia and the US hold a summit meeting in Alaska, Moscow’s forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of infiltrations in the country’s industrial heartland of Donetsk.

This week’s advances amount to only a limited success for Russia, analysts say, since it still needs to consolidate its gains before achieving a true breakthrough. Still, it’s a potentially dangerous moment for Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely try to persuade US President Donald Trump to pressure Ukraine by arguing the 3 1/2-year-old war is going badly for Kyiv, said Mykola Bieleskov, a senior analyst at CBA Initiatives Centre.

“The key risk for Ukraine is that the Kremlin will try to turn certain local gains on the battlefield into strategic victories at the negotiating table,” he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Kyiv still controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the Ukrainian leader categorically rejected.

After years of fighting, Russia still does not fully control all of the Donetsk region, which it illegally annexed in 2022, along with the Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. agencies