T HE TIMING could not have been worse. Days before a crucial summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday, Russian forces broke through Ukraine’s defensive line. Near the breakout area at Dobropillia, just north of the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, soldiers report panic and confusion.

"We talked about a ceasefire today. President Trump said this is one of his priorities in conversation with President Putin," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Putin "plays with the desire of the U.S. administration to bring peace to Ukraine," Zahorodniuk said. "Putin wants to get the U.S. on their side to get all Donbas, something they cannot achieve without losing another few hundred thousand people and a year of time."