United States negotiators are expected to visit Kyiv and Moscow in the coming days to resume efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said preliminary dates had been set for the visit, describing continued American engagement as vital. «We expect to see representatives of the US president here in Kyiv,» he said. «There will be a meeting with them in Moscow and in Kyiv. We are expecting a meeting with them in the coming days. It is very important. It is important that America continues to be active.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war. Speaking at an economic forum, Putin said a number of countries, including the US and China, were ready to support a peace settlement, but stressed that the problem must ultimately be resolved by Russia and Ukraine themselves. «We are grateful to everyone attempting to contribute to a settlement. Is there a chance? In my view, yes, there is,» he said. Putin also described Ukrainian attacks on civilian aircraft as «acts of terrorism», which he said complicated the prospects for bilateral peace talks.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said he wanted to see an end to the war and the losses sustained by both sides. «I just want to see that end. I think we’ll get it,» Trump told GB News in an interview aired on Thursday, a day after telling reporters he wanted a summit with Putin when the Kremlin leader is ready for a peace deal. The two leaders last met for US-mediated talks in February. Trump has said he would ask European nations to pay back the US for military aid and munitions previously sent to Ukraine, and appeared to signal a halt in sales to allied nations. In a social media post on Thursday, Trump also criticised reports of heavily depleted US munition stockpiles amid the separate war in Iran, adding that the US was ramping up production and stockpiling munitions. «We are taking them for ourselves, the U.S.A., rather than selling them to others, but the sales to Allies will soon again, begin,» Trump wrote.
On the ground, a Ukrainian strike on Thursday killed four people, including two medical personnel, in an attack on Russia’s border region of Belgorod, officials said. The region’s official headquarters said the dead in Shebekino, just across the border from Ukraine, included a doctor, a medic and a married couple. Three people were injured. Meanwhile, the head of Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Region said three civilians died in drone strikes in three separate districts of the region.
Russian drones struck and damaged a Coca-Cola plant outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday, Zelenskyy said. Officials said there were no injuries in the strike near the town of Brovary, east of the capital. «Today, the Russians have hit a Coca-Cola plant with their drone. Coca-Cola is such an enemy that they set it on fire with their Shaheds,» Zelenskyy said, referring to Iranian-designed drones. «It’s a clear Russian signal to America. The Russians cannot be unaware that this is an American facility.»
A separate Russian attack on Kyiv on Thursday injured 10 people, triggered a fire and badly damaged a high-rise residential building, officials said. The city’s military administration initially said one person had died in the assault, but later said the report had proved untrue. It said 10 people, including a child, had been hurt. The capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said nine people were injured, including six medical personnel.
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that an investigation would determine what caused a dispute between two of Ukraine’s security agencies to escalate into a shootout in Kyiv this week that left three members of the defence ministry’s HUR military intelligence directorate injured. The dispute centres on the disappearance for nine days of a Russian nationalist activist fighting alongside Ukrainian troops.
In a separate development, Russia will close German cultural centres on its territory, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, in a retaliatory measure reflecting deepening tensions between Moscow and European countries helping Ukraine resist the invasion. Lavrov’s announcement came after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport on 4 August.
