Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to resist a bilateral meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, casting doubt on summit diplomacy outcomes. US President Donald Trump met Putin in Alaska, and European leaders told Trump that if Putin does not cooperate more sanctions should be imposed. The week of meetings did not lessen hostilities in Ukraine, where Russian forces attempted a major push toward Dobropillia but were pushed back and reserves stabilised the front. Ukrainian forces cleared infiltrators from Pokrovsk and nearby villages. Russia maintained daily drone and missile attacks, while Ukrainian strikes reduced Russian refining capacity by 13 percent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be resisting a bilateral meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, casting doubt over whatever hopes for peace may have been generated by a week of summit diplomacy. That bilateral meeting is supposed to be the next step in a process inaugurated by US President Donald Trump last Friday, when he and Putin met in Alaska.
The week of meetings did nothing to lessen hostilities in Ukraine, where Russia appeared to try to deal a decisive blow to Ukrainian defenders ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, but was instead pushed back from previously captured territory. It also maintained a steady rain of drones and missiles on Ukraine's cities every day. Ukraine, too, kept up pressure on Russia, continuing a highly successful series of strikes against refineries and oil depots that have deprived Russia of 13 percent of its refining capacity.
A day ahead of the Alaska summit, Russian forces attempted a major push towards Dobropillia, a city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region that lies just 15km (9 miles) north of Pokrovsk, a target Russia has prioritised since last summer. Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovalev said reserves had stabilised the situation. On Friday, Dnipro Group of Forces spokesman Colonel Viktor Trehubov confirmed Russian infiltrators had been cleared from Pokrovsk and a group of outlying villages. Geolocated satellite imagery also confirmed this on Saturday.
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