(AFP) – Russia on Saturday said its troops had retaken three villages seized by Ukraine in its Kursk border region in a fresh setback for Kyiv as the prospect of peace talks draws closer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday named a high-level delegation including ministers that will meet US negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, seeking to repair ties with President Donald Trump’s administration. The United States has said it wants to discuss a “framework for a peace agreement”, but the Ukrainian leader was less specific. “We hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps”, he said, stressing that Ukraine is “fully committed to constructive dialogue”.
The three-year-long war is now at a critical juncture for Kyiv after Trump suspended US military aid as well as access to satellite imagery and intelligence-sharing following his public falling-out with Zelensky last week. Ukraine still controls some 400 square kilometres (150 square miles) in the Kursk region after launching a cross-border offensive last August, and Zelensky sees this as a possible bargaining chip in peace talks. But Ukraine’s troops in Kursk have seen their position worsen in recent weeks with Russia’s army encroaching.
Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday announced the recapture of three more villages: Viktorovka, Nikolayevka, and Staraya Sorochina. According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in the Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha, which is under Kyiv’s control. The advance appears to have cut off the logistics route needed by Ukraine to supply its troops in the town, although Kyiv has not confirmed this.
Russia has already taken back more than two-thirds of its territory in Kursk initially seized by Ukraine. The Ukrainian military General Staff said Saturday that 14 clashes were ongoing in the region amid heavy bombardment. “Since the beginning of the day, the enemy has carried out 23 air strikes, dropped a total of 33 guided aerial bombs on our troops’ positions and populated areas, and conducted 362 artillery attacks,” it said. Small groups of Russian troops have also mounted attacks in recent weeks into Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Kursk. Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation on Saturday denied reports of a “massive breakthrough”, saying small groups were trying to cross but being destroyed.
– Meeting in Saudi Arabia –
Peace negotiations remain a distant prospect with Kyiv and Moscow making starkly opposed demands. But Trump’s return to the White House has brought this prospect nearer. The American president has radically shifted the US position, reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin while criticising Zelensky. Senior US and Ukrainian officials are set to meet for talks on the war in Jeddah on Tuesday. Zelensky will also visit on Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said he would speak to the Ukrainian negotiators about an “initial ceasefire” with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement. Zelensky said Ukraine would be represented by Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, as well as the president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and the deputy chief of staff Pavlo Palisa, a respected military commander. Trump says he wants to end the war as soon as possible, but Ukraine fears being forced to make heavy territorial concessions to Moscow. Trump on Friday threatened new sanctions and tariffs on Russia over its bombardment of Ukraine. Zelensky called for allies to “increase sanctions against Russia” after heavy overnight bombardment in the east and northeast.
A Russian assault hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region late on Friday, killing 11 people and wounding 40, according to the emergency services. Separately, three people were killed and seven others wounded in a drone attack in the town of Bogodukhiv, the military head of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said.
– ‘More bombs’ –
The latest strikes came after EU leaders, shaken by the prospect of US disengagement, agreed to boost the bloc’s defences. Putin “has no interest in peace,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Saturday, adding that “we must step up our military support”. Zelensky said Saturday that Ukrainian and British diplomats had held “highly productive” talks in Kyiv, without giving details.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the latest Russian attacks as “what happens when someone appeases barbarians”, saying this results in “more bombs, more aggression”. In Dobropillia, AFP saw charred residential buildings, flattened market stalls, and evidence of cluster bomb damage. Irina Kostenko, 59, spent the night cowering in her hallway with her husband. When she left the apartment building on Saturday, she saw a neighbour “lying dead on the ground, covered with a blanket”. “It was shocking, I don’t have the words to describe it,” Kostenko told AFP.
burs-lgo-led-am/sbk – Florent VERGNES
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