From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / August 18, 2025
As Ukrainian Forces Strike Deep into Russia and Clear Eastern Villages, Zelensky Declares Territorial Negotiations Must Begin at Current Front Lines While European Leaders Prepare for White House Showdown
Summary of the Day – August 17, 2025
The diplomatic chess game ahead of the pivotal Washington summit intensified dramatically as President Zelensky arrived in Brussels declaring that negotiations must begin at current front lines while Ukrainian forces demonstrated their continued offensive capabilities through successful strikes deep into Russian territory. Even as Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged Putin had offered insufficient concessions for peace, Ukrainian troops cleared multiple villages in Donetsk Oblast and wounded a senior Russian general in Kursk, providing tactical victories to strengthen Kyiv’s negotiating position. Meanwhile, Russia launched devastating overnight attacks killing civilians across Ukraine just hours before the scheduled White House talks, underscoring Moscow’s strategy of military pressure during diplomatic engagement.
Rubio’s Reality Check: Putin’s “Couple” of Concessions Fall Short
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the Trump administration’s most candid assessment of Putin’s Alaska Summit performance during multiple television interviews on August 17, stating that the Russian leader had offered “a couple” of unspecified concessions but “did not offer enough concessions to reach a just peace agreement immediately.”
Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Rubio emphasized that “if one side gets everything they want, that’s called surrender,” while acknowledging the emotional difficulty of negotiations for Ukraine. “It’s very difficult because Ukraine obviously feels, you know, harmed, and rightfully so, because they were invaded,” he stated.
Rubio’s assessment contradicted more optimistic portrayals from other administration officials, revealing internal disagreements about the summit’s achievements. He confirmed that “both Russia and Ukraine need to make concessions in order to achieve a peace agreement” while reiterating that “the United States is not in a position to accept or reject a deal on behalf of Ukraine.”
The Secretary of State defended the administration’s decision not to impose new sanctions, arguing that “the moment the president puts those additional sanctions, that’s the end of the talks.” He described the conflict as a “meat grinder” where Russia was willing to “churn through” its soldiers, noting that 20,000 Russian soldiers were killed in July alone.
Putin’s Expanded Demands: Russian Language and Church Control
New details emerged about Putin’s territorial demands during the Alaska Summit, with The New York Times, Reuters, and BBC reporting that the Russian leader had asked Trump for guarantees that Russian would become an official language again in parts or all of Ukraine. Putin also demanded that Ukraine end its “persecution” of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.
Voice of Ukraine 