Russia Strikes Ukraine Ahead of Alaska Peace Talks, Hitting Two Regions Named as Possible Sites for Land Swap

Russia pounded Ukraine with missile strikes Saturday, hitting two regions that could be key to a proposed peace deal that will be discussed by Presidents Trump and Putin when they meet in Alaska late next week.Ukraine’s United 24 Media reported the strikes hit Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, leaving four civilians dead and dozens injured. Zaporizhzhia and Kherson have been identified as regions that could be part of a land swap in any Russia-Ukraine peace deal.The outlet said two people were killed when a missile hit a car in the Zaporizhzhia district and that two others died when a missile struck a minibus outside the city of Kherson.Another Ukrainian outlet, Ukrinform, said a 61-year-old woman was killed in her yard as a result of a Russian army strike in the Zaporizhzhia region.The BBC reported earlier Saturday that the heavily contested Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could be part of any peace deal, with Russian forces pulling back from the areas in exchange for Ukraine ceding much of its eastern territory to Russia.Politico quoted an unidentified White House official saying that the Trump administration has been sounding out its European allies for their reaction to Mr. Putin’s proposed terms for a peace deal, but did not identify those terms.Mr. Trump indicated that some sort of land swap is in the works on Friday when he announced plans to hold the August 15 summit in Alaska. “We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched,” he said. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”However the idea was promptly rejected by President Vlodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who is not expected to be part of the Alaska summit but could take part in a future meeting with Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this — and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Mr. Zelensky said in a Ukrainian-language video posted to his social media account early Saturday.In addition to four regions of eastern Ukraine that Moscow has formally annexed even though it does not fully occupy them, Mr. Putin is expected to demand that Ukraine give up its claim to Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014.Mr. Zelensky’s tough stand reflects public opinion in Ukraine, where a majority of residents oppose making any territorial concessions, even if they would bring an end to a 3-year-old war that has killed or injured more than 46,000 civilians by the United Nations’ count and devastated the nation’s infrastructure.Polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 52 percent of respondents opposed giving up land under any circumstances as of the May-June period, down from 84 percent a year earlier but still a majority. Just 38 percent said they were ready to make concessions.Despite the potentially rocky road ahead for any peace talks, the mood in Alaska is upbeat ahead of Friday’s summit.“The world will be watching, and Alaska stands ready to host this historic meeting,” said Alaska’s governor, Mike Dunleavy, in a social media posting late Friday after the venue for next week’s summit was announced.“Alaska is the most strategic location in the world, sitting at the crossroads of North America and Asia, with the Arctic to our north and the Pacific to our south,” Mr. Dunleavy wrote. “What happens in the Arctic and the Pacific impacts Alaska before the rest of the country.”“It’s fitting that discussions of global importance take place here. For centuries, Alaska has been a bridge between nations, and today, we remain a gateway for diplomacy, commerce, and security in one of the most critical regions on earth. The world will be watching, and Alaska stands ready to host this historic meeting.”Senator Dan Sullivan is quoted in the Anchorage Daily News saying ,“It will be an honor for our state to host yet another important meeting between world leaders, as we did between President Reagan and Pope John Paul II in 1984, and between President Nixon and the Emperor of Japan in 1971.”And his fellow Alaska senator, Lisa Murkowski, is quoted saying the meeting is “another opportunity for the Arctic to serve as a venue that brings together world leaders to forge meaningful agreements.”“While I remain deeply wary of Putin and his regime, I hope these discussions lead to genuine progress and help end the war on equitable terms,” she wrote.

Russia Strikes Ukraine Ahead of Alaska Peace Talks, Hitting Two Regions Named as Possible Sites for Land Swap

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