(Kyle Anzalone, Libertarian Institute) President Donald Trump made ending the war in Ukraine a top talking point on the campaign trail and has worked to bring Kiev and Moscow to the table over the first two months of his second term. However, the talks have not reduced the fighting on the ground.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had driven Ukrainian troops from the village of Guyevo, located in Russia’s Kursk region, which was targeted by a Ukrainian offensive last summer.
The village was Ukraine’s most significant stronghold remaining in Kursk. Over the past month, Russia has made rapid gains in the region.
While Ukrainian forces are being driven from Kursk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops are active in a second Russian border region. “We continue to carry out active operations in the border areas on enemy territory, and that is absolutely just – [the] war must return to where it came from,” he explained on Monday.
Ukrainian sources speaking with CNN said that Russian forces had stepped up attacks across the frontlines. Moscow claims its troops advanced in a number of regions along the front.
Ukrainian soldiers say they are losing territory as they are significantly outnumbered by Russian forces. “Sometimes there are 10 Russian occupiers for one of our infantrymen,” a representative of Ukraine’s 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade told the Kyiv Post. “The Russians are pressing with an incredible amount of infantry, which they simply have a lot of.”
The military official explained that in recent months, his brigade lost two battalion-sized units.
Along with the fighting on the frontlines, Kiev and Moscow continue to trade missile and drone attacks. On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have hit 150 Ukrainian targets with drones and missiles in a single day. The ministry reported downing over 150 Ukrainian drones over the same period.
The increase in fighting comes despite Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine. US mediators have engaged in separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials, resulting in agreements to end attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping in the Black Sea. However, Kiev and Moscow have traded accusations of ceasefire violations and the status of the agreement is now unclear.
Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said the Kremlin remained interested in an agreement with Kiev, but only one that would resolve the conflict permanently. He added that Ukraine must not use any pause in fighting to re-arm.
“We are open to a meaningful and practical dialogue, but we will not allow anyone to deceive us or to use this negotiation process, directly or indirectly, to enhance the military potential of the Kiev regime,” he told the UN Security Council earlier this week. “To achieve this, it is essential to address the root causes, one of which is the influx of Western weapons into Ukraine. As we all know, this flow began long before the start of our special military operation and was facilitated under the cover of the Minsk agreements.”
The US and Russia are set to engage in another round of talks in Turkey on Thursday. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the delegations will be led by Russian Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiyev and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter.
Zakharova said the talks would focus on removing any obstacles slowing diplomacy between Russia and the US.
This article originally appeared at The Libertarian Institute.
