Putin's proposal to take Donbas is considered by the British newspaper The Telegraph to be terrible, but perhaps the best that could be on the table.
US President Donald Trump met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. The main topic of the talks is a possible ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, which would end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
18:00 The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Service (HUR) carried out a drone attack on the infrastructure of the Liski railway station in the Russian Voronezh region on Sunday night. The website united24media.com reports on this, citing news sources from the Hromadske portal.
The operation, carried out jointly by units of the State Border Guard Service and other defense forces, disrupted rail traffic through the station, resulting in the interruption of supplies of ammunition and personnel to Russian forces in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
According to intelligence sources, Liski station is a key logistics hub for the Russian military. It provides transport links for troops deployed in Ukraine. After the attack, Russian authorities reported delays for at least 14 trains, Russian portal Astra reported.
The day before, Ukrainian defense intelligence had struck an ammunition depot and Russian personnel in occupied Melitopol, Zaporozhye Oblast. An explosion in the city's industrial zone destroyed the depot and triggered further explosions, killing at least six Russian soldiers.
Melitopol, an important logistical hub connecting the occupied territories with Crimea, is a frequent target of Ukrainian operations aimed at disrupting Russian supply routes.
16:40 The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses have neutralized 300 Ukrainian drones in the past day. According to Moscow, one of them was targeting the Smolensk nuclear power plant in western Russia today. The information could not be independently verified.
The attack by a Ukrainian drone"on the infrastructure of a nuclear power plant" was detected in the airspace of the Smolensk region, the Russian state news agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying. Kiev did not immediately comment on the matter.
12:55 The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses had destroyed 300 Ukrainian drones over the past day. Ukraine, on the other hand, according to its air force, faced an attack by 60 Russian drones and one ballistic missile. The information could not be independently verified.
In addition to 300 unmanned aerial vehicles, Russian air defenses also shot down four aerial bombs, the Defense Ministry in Moscow wrote in a statement.
The governor of the Voronezh region in western Russia, Alexander Gusev, previously said that a drone attack overnight injured a railway worker and damaged power lines in the Voronezh region in western Russia.
The governor said the drone debris also damaged power lines at the railway station, causing delays to several trains. There were also fires in a shop, a textile market and a gas pipeline. Gusev did not specify the locations of the drone impacts.
Ukraine also faced drone attacks overnight. Its air force reported that Russia attacked with one Iskander-M ballistic missile and 60 unmanned aerial vehicles of various types. 40 Russian drones were neutralized by air defenses.
Friendship in flames. Ukrainian drones hit the largest node on Russian territory
10:20 A drone strike overnight injured a railway worker and damaged power lines in the Voronezh region in western Russia, the regional governor, Alexander Gusev, said.
"According to preliminary information, a track fitter was injured at a railway station in one of the villages. He was taken to the district hospital," Gusev said on the Telegram platform.
The governor said the drone debris also damaged power lines at the railway station, causing delays to several trains. There were also fires in a shop, a textile market and a gas pipeline. Gusev did not specify the locations of the drone impacts.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses destroyed 46 Ukrainian drones overnight, nine of which were over the Voronezh region.
6:55 After the meeting in Alaska, Donald Trump conveyed to Ukraine and Europe Vladimir Putin's demand: to hand over the rest of Donbas in exchange for peace and security guarantees. However, this"terrible" proposal is perhaps the best option available to Kiev. This is stated in the editorial of the British newspaper The Telegraph, which has consistently held a pro-Ukrainian position, writes the Ukrainian agency Unian.
British journalists admit that signing a peace agreement under these conditions after more than three years of fierce resistance would be a"national tragedy" for Ukraine and a significant reward for Putin, which will probably compensate for all Russian costs of the war. Such an end to the war would also be a"failure" for the West, which failed to sufficiently support Ukraine and is now watching as European borders are being forcibly redrawn. Nevertheless, journalists from The Telegraph conclude that the handover of Donbass in exchange for peace and post-war guarantees"will probably be the best deal that can be reached," reports Unian.
They state that Ukraine does not have the strength to expel the Russians from its territory, and although Europe and the US had every opportunity to significantly strengthen Ukraine's defenses, they did not do so. British journalists call for an optimistic view of such an agreement: the conditions announced in Alaska are incomparably better than what Putin hoped for when Russian troops stood on the outskirts of Kiev, adds Unian.
