The meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and russia, which the US president announced on August 19 “within two weeks”, never took place. These talks could have been a very important milestone on the path to a peaceful settlement. However, russia actually sabotaged this initiative. While Ukraine initially proposed a neutral state for such a meeting, russian ruler putin stated that negotiations between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could only take place in the russian capital, Moscow. But such a format of negotiations would effectively mean that the loser came to the winner. russia is demonstrating that it does not want peace on compromise terms. But there is no reason for Moscow to behave as if it were the winner either. The course of hostilities shows that this is not at all the case. Therefore, the President of Ukraine in response suggested that putin himself come to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Recall that at the beginning of 2022, russian propagandists promised that the russian army would take Kyiv in three days. But as a result, the russians had to retreat from the city with heavy losses.

Now, demonstrating its unwillingness to reach a peaceful settlement, russia has intensified missile and drone strikes on Kyiv. The russians are attacking civilian homes and administrative buildings. The other day, a russian missile hit the Ukrainian government building. Commenting on this fact, the US President's special representative called it evidence that russia does not want to end the war diplomatically. Moreover, on the night of September 9-10, about twenty russian strike drones flew into Polish territory. The Polish Air Force and aircraft from other NATO member states were involved in eliminating them. Poland viewed this incident as an act of aggression that posed a threat to the lives of civilians. And some American politicians viewed this incident as an act of war against a NATO ally and called on the US president to tighten sanctions against russia.

Now we can say for sure that Moscow ignored Washington's peace initiatives. Under these conditions, the US agreed to sell Ukraine 3,350 ERAM missiles, which can strike at a distance of up to 460 km. The purchase, worth $ 825 million, will be financed by European states that support Ukraine.

Meanwhile, with its existing missile and drone potential, Ukraine is destroying enemy troops and the enemy's infrastructure that is critical to the war. For example, in the second half of August, Ukrainian drones hit 10 russian oil refineries, as well as export infrastructure facilities. According to Reuters, these attacks led to the loss of at least 17% of russian oil refining capacity. This has already led to a fuel shortage in several regions of russia. And in early September, Ukrainian drones successfully attacked the Ryazan oil refinery, which is one of the five largest in russia. Therefore, we can say that the problems with gasoline and other fuels for the russians are just beginning.

Summing up the results of the russian summer offensive, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrsky, noted that in the main Pokrovsky direction, where the russians created the largest strike group, they managed to capture only 5 sq. km. Instead, Ukrainian troops liberated from the russian invaders five times larger territory – 26 sq. km.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the losses of the Russian invaders in August amounted to more than 28 thousand people, and since the beginning of 2025 - more than 291 thousand killed and wounded Russian soldiers. Also, since the beginning of the year, 1 480 tanks, 3 186 armored combat vehicles and 10 670 artillery pieces have been destroyed or damaged.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are calling on foreign volunteers to join their ranks in the fight for freedom and justice.