Here are the key events on day 1,271 of Russiaโs war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Monday, August 18:
Politics and diplomacy
- The leaders of several European countries announced that they will accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss ending Russiaโs war on Ukraine.
- The leaders accompanying Zelenskyy will be: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
- White House envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to โrobust security guaranteesโ for Ukraine that were โgame-changingโ at a summit with Trump in Alaska on Friday.
- Zelenskyy welcomed Witkoffโs announcement, saying it was โa historic decision that the United States is ready to take part in security guarantees for Ukraineโ. However, he added that the guarantees โmust be developed with Europeโs participationโ.
- Macron said that European leaders would ask โto what extentโ Washington would participate in the security guarantees on Monday. Macron also said that โthere is only one state proposing a peace that would be a capitulation: Russiaโ.
- Von der Leyen welcomed the proposal as an offer of NATO-style security guarantees from the US, adding that the โcoalition of the willing, including the European Union, is ready to do its shareโ.
- Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a statement shared on Telegram on Sunday, said that Macronโs claims of capitulation were an โabject lieโ.
- In an interview with CNN, Witkoff also said that Russia had โmade some concessionsโ in relation to โall five of those regionsโ, in an apparent reference to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Crimea.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC that a ceasefire โis not off the tableโ but โwhat we ultimately are aiming for is an end to this warโ, a day after Trump said he was aiming for a peace agreement without a prior ceasefire.
- Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday morning, simply saying: โBIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!โ, without elaborating.
Fighting
- Russian forces killed five people and injured four in Ukraineโs Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said in a post on Telegram on Sunday. The attacks killed two people in Raiske, two more people in Sviatohorivka, and one person in Kostiantynivka, Filashkin said.
- Four people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a commercial facility in the village of Rakitnoye in Russiaโs Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.
- Russiaโs state-run TASS news agency reported on Sunday that in total, Ukrainian forces struck 13 locations across Belgorod in one day, using 111 drones and 52 munitions.
- TASS also reported on Sunday that Russian forces shot down four aerial bombs and 300 drones in the past day.
- The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that Ukrainian forces cleared the city of Pokrovsk of Russian forces and occupiers. Ukrainian forces advanced up to 1km (0.6 miles), in the Yablunivka area of the Sumy region, the General Staff added in a post on Telegram on Sunday.
