Russia rules out peace talks as Ukraine claims advances

 

A Ukrainian serviceman unloads shells from a Soviet-made T-72 tank, in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 12, 2024. [AFP]

Russia on Monday ruled out any peace talks with Ukraine despite Kyiv raising pressure on the Kremlin by claiming fresh advances in its offensive into Russian territory.

Ukraine sent troops and tanks over the border on August 6 in a surprise incursion two-and-half years after Russia launched its invasion and it says it makes new gains virtually each day.

The biggest attack on Russian soil since World War II has rattled Russia and penetrated several kilometres into Russia's Kursk region. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine now controls over 1,250 square kilometres (480 square miles) and 92 settlements.

Zelensky said Ukraine was achieving its objectives, which officials previously said include stretching Russian forces, creating a "buffer zone" in Russian territory and seeking an end to the war on "fair" terms.

In a speech to ambassadors, Zelensky urged partner countries to allow the use of long-range weapons deep into Russia and to halt Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine.

"Ukraine is separated from halting the advance of the Russian army on the front by only one decision we await from our partners: the decision on long-range capabilities," Zelensky said.

Delay gives "support for Russia's offensive" in the eastern Donetsk region, he said.

The incursion into Kursk would not have been necessary if Ukraine could use more powerful weapons to protect "citizens in border areas", he added.

Zelensky urges peace talks

Zelensky confirmed that he had not informed his allies in advance of the Kursk offensive, claiming that they would have opposed it.

"The whole naive, illusory concept of so-called red lines regarding Russia, which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners, has crumbled" since Ukraine's advances, he said.

Zelensky urged diplomats to organise a second round of peace talks this year, saying "we must force Russia, with all our might and together with our partners, to make peace".

But Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Ukraine's incursion had pushed peace talks further away. "At the current stage, given this escapade, we will not talk," he said.

Ushakov called entering a negotiating process "completely inappropriate" and said future talks "depend on the situation on the battlefield, including in the Kursk region."

Moscow, intent on maintaining its own advance in eastern Ukraine, claimed another village in the Donetsk region on Monday.

And bracing for a further assault, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of families from the key city of Pokrovsk as Moscow's forces inched closer to the logistics hub.

Ukraine pushes Kursk offensive

President Vladimir Putin has demanded Ukraine cede swathes of territory if it wants a ceasefire.

Zelensky, who has ruled out direct talks with the Kremlin, demands Russia's full withdrawal from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and reparations.

Seeking to give impetus to a possible settlement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine on Friday, officials said.

Modi recently visited Moscow, is close to Putin and has made no secret of his desire to end the conflict.

Ukraine meanwhile pushed on into Kursk.

A third bridge over the Seym River inside Russia was hit over the weekend, a Russian military investigator said in a video published by pro-Kremlin TV commentator Vladimir Solovyov.

It has left Russia with limited supply options, according to Russian military bloggers.

The incursion has worried Russians, prompting some in Kyiv to hope that sentiment in Russia could turn against the Kremlin's war.

"Accustomed to seeing the war as a television show, Russians are now seeing it up close and personal," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on the X social media platform.

"If you don't want to see the war, you have to end the war by forcing your 'leadership' to make peace on fair terms."

Ukraine evacuates Pokrovsk

The Russian defence ministry said it had thwarted Ukrainian attacks on three more villages.

In the Donetsk region, Moscow said it captured the town of Artemovo, which is called Zalizne in Ukrainian -- one of the largest Russian gains of recent weeks.

Ukrainian artillery fired on a bus stop in the city of Donetsk, which is under Russia's control, killing a pregnant woman and wounding 10 people including two children, said Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor.

Ukraine said Russian attacks killed four people in the frontline settlements of Toretsk and Zarichne.

As the front moved further west towards Pokrovsk, Ukrainian officials announced the compulsory evacuation of families with children.

Russia has long tried to capture Pokrovsk, which lies on the intersection of a key road that supplies Ukrainian troops.