The US President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he would “probably” meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy the following week as Russia announced that its forces had taken control of the strategically important mining town of Toretsk in east Ukraine.
Zelenskyy stated that “talks” were being planned between Washington and Kyiv, but he did not confirm that the two leaders would meet.
Zelenskyy said, “The coming weeks may be very intensive in diplomacy, and we will do what’s needed to make this time effective and productive. We always appreciate working with President Donald Trump. Weʼre also planning meetings and talks at the teams’ level. Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details. A solid, lasting peace shall become closer.”
Despite suffering significant losses, Russia has been progressively advancing into eastern Ukraine for more than a year, taking the lives of dozens of largely deserted towns and villages.
Since Avdiivka in February 2024, Toretsk is the largest settlement Russia claims to have taken. Kyiv denied that the industrial center was entirely under Russian control.
According to military strategists, Moscow would be able to further block Ukrainian supply routes and advance deeper into the northern Donetsk region if it were to seize Toretsk, which is situated on elevated ground.
Before Russia’s 2022 invasion, Toretsk was a thriving coal mining hub with 30,000 or more citizens. However, the local government reports that by July of last year, the population had dropped by 90%.
On the contrary. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio may join the conference of European foreign ministers scheduled to discuss the situation in Paris next Wednesday.
This month marks the conflict’s third anniversary, and Trump has pushed both parties to put an end to it. “We’re also planning meetings and talks at the teams’ level. Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Since claiming the Donbas region as Russian territory in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made its conquest a “priority.”
Russian military bloggers claim that Toretsk and the beleaguered town of Chasiv Yar, which is fewer than 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the north, are two of the final urban areas preventing Russia from moving deeper into the area.
As per research released last month by the Institute for the Study of War, the Russian army is probably going to use Toretsk to swiftly move into wide fields west of the town.
In response to rumors that Moscow had pulled its troops from the Kursk area of Russia after incurring significant casualties, Zelensky declared on Friday that North Korean forces were once again on the front line.
According to intelligence from South Korea, Ukraine, and the West, Pyongyang sent around 10,000 troops to back Russia in the western Kursk region, where Ukraine started a cross-border offensive in August.
South Korea’s spy agency said this week that tahe troops seemed to have not been involved in combat since mid-January, while a Ukrainian military spokesperson told AFP in January that troops had been “withdrawn.”
“There have been new assaults in the Kursk operation areas… the Russian army and North Korean soldiers have been brought in again,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
Kursk residents have grown increasingly frustrated with the authorities about the fate of hundreds of Russians trapped by the fighting.
