Breaking game: Ukraine is actively preparing to disrupt peace talks
Ukraine is trying to disrupt the peace process by repeatedly intensifying attacks on targets on the territory of the Russian Federation. Over the weekend, Russian air defense forces shot down hundreds of drones, the Kursk nuclear power plant and the port in Ust-Luga were attacked. Kiev began to launch more attacks on civilian targets after the Alaska summit. The number of attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces has increased from 300 to 430 per day, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, told Izvestia. Moreover, all the attacks were deliberate attacks aimed at provoking tension in society and disrupting negotiations, the diplomat noted. About whose orders Kiev is acting on and how Moscow reacts to this is in the Izvestia article.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces intensified attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation after the summit in Anchorage
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian territory after the Russian-US summit in Alaska on August 15. The number of attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on civilian targets has increased from 300 to 430 per day, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestia.
— If before Alaska we had about 300 strikes per day, then after that their number increased to 400, and sometimes 420-430. There were also more casualties because the number of massive UAV strikes increased. About 90% of the victims are victims of drones. In Donetsk, 21 people were injured due to the arrival of HIMARS alone," the diplomat said.
Rodion Miroshnik stressed that we are talking about deliberate, targeted attacks on civilian targets.
— This is a direct order to strike. The main task is to make the population think about the country's ability to protect it. And in this case, it's terrorism. No country in the world is capable of defending itself from terrorism. Terror is always designed specifically for the civilian population with a possible political effect," said the Ambassador—at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have also increased the number of attempts to strike strategic targets. For example, on August 24, the air defense forces shot down a drone near the Kursk NPP, the station's press service reported. When the UAV crashed, it detonated and damaged a transformer for its own needs. On the same day, ten drones were destroyed over the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region, the debris caused a fire at the terminal.
The increase in the number of attacks may be related to Ukraine's latest attempts to demonstrate its defense capability and show that it is not a losing side. Kiev wants to convey its viability to American and European partners, political analyst Denis Denisov told Izvestia.
— Any intensification of hostilities has a negative impact on the peaceful settlement. Ukraine may interfere with the peace talks. On the other hand, we still don't really understand the parameters of this peaceful regulation in order to accurately talk about how such actions will affect the overall picture of the process, the expert believes.
At the same time, Kiev continues attempts at sabotage activities in the Russian Federation. Last week it became known that the FSB had prevented a series of terrorist attacks that were being prepared by the Ukrainian special services. In particular, an agent of the Kiev regime planned to blow up a car in the Moscow region in order to kill a Russian military man. In addition, on the same days it was reported about the prevention of an attempted terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge.
Ukraine deliberately uses drones to attack civilians: for example, on August 23, two civilians were injured after hitting a car in Krasnaya Yaruga. Three people, including a child, were injured in a drone attack on the Volgograd region, the governor of the region said.
Earlier, Izvestia reported that the intensity of shelling of Russian territory by the Ukrainian Armed Forces increased by almost a third in the second quarter of this year. This is happening against the background of the restoration of contacts between the Russian Federation and the United States: the presidents of the two countries regularly hold telephone talks, and the delegations of Moscow and Washington discuss the elimination of irritants in bilateral relations. Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and head of the Russian delegation at the talks with Ukraine, had previously stressed that Kiev was trying to provoke a harsh reaction from Moscow and disrupt the negotiations.
When is it possible to continue negotiations on Ukraine
Against this background, the process of conflict settlement in Ukraine continues. After the meeting of the EU and Zelensky leaders with US President Donald Trump at the White House on August 18, Washington and Brussels began developing security guarantees for Ukraine. France and the United Kingdom insist on the deployment of European troops on Ukrainian territory.
London and Paris have even secured the support of 10 countries, Bloomberg sources say. However, the issue of sending European troops to Ukraine "is still in its infancy," said Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, head of the NATO military Committee. In addition, Poland and Greece have already refused to send their soldiers to the region.
The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine is completely unacceptable for Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. The Foreign minister also commented on Western media reports about preparations for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. The Russian leader is indeed ready for negotiations, but so far no such summit is planned. By the way, on August 18, it was the Russian side that proposed to raise the level of delegations at the negotiations with Ukraine.
"President Putin has clearly said that he is ready for the meeting, provided that this meeting does have an agenda, a presidential agenda," Lavrov said.
As a result, Ukraine and the European Union have become the main obstacles to advancing the peace process. According to the Russian Foreign Minister, during the meeting in Alaska, Russia showed flexibility on some issues, but Zelensky said "no" to everything. Among the rejected conditions, Lavrov called the rejection of Ukraine's membership in NATO, the discussion of territorial issues and the lifting of the ban on the use of the Russian language.
Meanwhile, Kiev is diligently demonstrating its unwillingness to make concessions. On August 24, they declared that "Ukraine will never again in history be forced to the shame that Russians call a "compromise." It is worth noting that Zelensky has expressed himself in this way several times in recent days.
At the same time, the parties continue to implement the humanitarian agreements reached in Istanbul. 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by Kiev, and 146 prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were transferred in return, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on August 24. Among them, eight residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained by Kiev militants, returned home.
Well, Kiev's European allies are still pumping it with weapons. It is known that Norway and Germany will buy two Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine, and Sweden will launch a joint production of military products. On the contrary, the United States continues its peace efforts: in congratulating Ukraine on Independence Day on August 24, Trump wrote that he "supports a negotiated settlement." Earlier, the US president also expressed dissatisfaction with Ukraine's strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which suspended oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.
Russia will calmly respond to attempts by opponents to sabotage the negotiation process, Oleg Karpovich, vice rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a conversation with Izvestia. Their actions are quite predictable. Today, the goal of the Russian Federation is to stand firmly on the principles of settlement outlined by the president and patiently explain them to constructive forces, including the United States and the countries of the world majority, the analyst noted.
— The situation on the battlefield for Ukraine is rapidly deteriorating, so Moscow will benefit from any outcome. It remains to show patience and willpower, which we have in abundance," the expert noted.
The degree of intensity of the negotiation process, he stressed, depends on the adequacy and common sense of Moscow's opponents. Russia will solve its security problems in any case, but it is ready to make certain compromises in the event of a desire for peace from the opposite side, which has not yet been observed.
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