Ukraine claims progress on battlefield as Zelensky prepares for meeting with Trump

2025-08-17 11:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukraine claims progress on battlefield as Zelensky prepares for meeting with

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed battlefield victory on the eastern front against Russian military forces, as both sides aim to gain an advantage ahead of Zelensky's planned meeting with US President Donald Trump on August 18 at the White House.

The meeting will be held after Trump dropped his call for a ceasefire in the war and said the parties should negotiate towards a comprehensive peace agreement.

This stance is not in line with the desire of Kiev and its European allies for a quick cessation of fighting.

The Ukrainian military said on August 16 that it had pushed Russian forces about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beyond the front line near the northeastern city of Sumy. Russian forces have been conducting recent offensives in the region as they seek to seize more territory in their fight against the Ukrainian army, which is facing a shortage of weapons.

"Ukrainian soldiers continue fighting, destroying the enemy and liberating our settlements," the chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian army said on Telegram.

"The advance of Ukrainian units ranges from 1 to 2.5 kilometers."

These claims have not been independently verified.

However, Zelensky has said that he does not expect Russia's offensive to ease, while the Kremlin also aims to register victories at a time of increased diplomatic activity, with the aim of ending the war launched by Russia in Ukraine in 2022.

Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Trump in Alaska on August 15, the parties have not agreed on a ceasefire and Moscow has continued air strikes on several Ukrainian cities.

A day later, Trump said that Kiev should reach an agreement with Moscow to end the war because "Russia is a very great power, and they are not."

Many Western media outlets have quoted sources as saying that Trump told Zelensky that Putin had proposed freezing most of the front line if Kiev handed over the entire Donetsk region to Russia.

Zelensky, on the other hand, repeatedly mentions that he does not accept territorial surrender, and European allies are also on this line.

"International law is clear. All territories that have been temporarily occupied belong to Ukraine," the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on August 10.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and now controls a fifth of the country, including the Luhansk region and parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.

Ukraine and European leaders have said that Putin's strategy of favoring lengthy negotiations toward a comprehensive agreement and rejecting a quick ceasefire is allowing the Russian leader to buy time to intensify the offensive on the battlefield.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany are expected to hold a virtual meeting on Sunday to discuss the next steps to end the war./ REL