Ukraine Update Day 1,268…Trump Working with European’s Against Putin…

European leaders pressed their priorities in a call with Trump organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday. They spoke first with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who traveled to Berlin, and then Trump joined. The call was intended to shape Trump’s thinking before the Alaska summit on Friday, with the anxious Europeans well aware that Trump in the past has seemed to fall under Putin’s spell.

European leaders emerged heralding the conversation as unifying….

More…

• Germany plans to fund a $500m package of military equipment and munitions for Ukraine sourced from the US, Nato said on Wednesday. Alliance chief Mark Rutte commended Germany for the decision, saying: “This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.” Germany’s foreign and defence ministries said the support was focused on equipment such as “critical air defence capabilities” against Russian airstrikes that were “killing more and more civilians throughout Ukraine”. The Netherlands and Sweden have also pledged major contributions.

• Germany’s move came as Donald Trump said there would be “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin did not agree to stop his war in Ukraineafter the summit between the US and Russian presidents in Alaska this Friday. The US president’s comment came after a virtual meeting with European leaders including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told the group that Putin “is bluffing” about seeking peace. “He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front,” Zelenskyy said, amid a sharp thrust from Russian forces into eastern Ukraine in recent days. “Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine,” he said. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the leaders had a “constructive and good” discussion with Trump.

• Trump suggested to the group that he would push for a second summit if his meeting with Putin went well – this time including Zelenskyy, reports Patrick Wintour. “If the first one goes OK, we’ll have a quick second one,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d like to have me there.” Trump’s remarks followed what he described as a very good call with the European leaders in which he consulted about the goal and strategy for his summit. He pleased Europe’s leadership by giving reassurances that a ceasefire was his priority and he would not make any territorial concessions without Kyiv’s full involvement.

• Keir Starmer said there was now a “viable” chance for a Ukraine ceasefire. The British prime minister said ahead of the Trump-Putin talks that Ukraine’s military backers – the so-called coalition of the willing – had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions. “For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near … a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told the European meeting. “Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the [US] president has put in.”

• Russia wants to include the topic of a reduction in Nato troops’ presence in any conversations about the future of Ukraine, the Polish prime minister said. Donald Tusk told reporters on Wednesday: “That is why it is so important that we build such a strong and united group of states, both in relation to Russia but also in relation to other allies, like the United States.”

• Russian hackers briefly took control of a dam in Norway earlier this year, the country’s counter-intelligence agency chief said on Wednesday, the first time Oslo has officially attributed the cyberattack to its neighbour. While in command of the dam in Bremanger, western Norway, on 7 April, the hackers opened a flood gate and released 500 litres (132 gallons) of water a second for four hours before the attack was detected and stopped, authorities previously said. No one was injured. The UK’s spy chief accused Russia in September last year of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe, partly to scare European countries from helping Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegation….

More…

ISW….Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 13, 2025

• Russian officials reiterated that Russia’s objectives in Ukraine remain unchanged ahead of the Alaska summit on August 15, once again demonstrating that the Kremlin remains uninterested in pursuing serious peace negotiations.
• The Trump administration clarified that the United States will not pursue any agreements with Russia regarding a peace settlement in Ukraine without an immediate ceasefire and without Ukraine’s formal involvement in peace negotiations.
• Trump reiterated US interest in facilitating future Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations and warned that Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin fails to engage in serious peace talks with Ukraine after the Alaska summit.
• The Kremlin is using the Alaska summit to portray Russia as a world power equal to the United States and to posture Putin as an equal to US President Donald Trump.
• Russia is reportedly preparing to conduct further offensive operations in priority sectors of the frontline and to resume limited offensives in southern Ukraine, particularly in Kherson Oblast.
• Russia is simultaneously preparing to continue its long-range drone strike campaign against Ukrainian rear areas, which will likely result in further civilian casualties.
• Russian forces have yet to reinforce and consolidate positions east and northeast of Dobropillya, and Russian and Ukrainian sources continued on August 13 to characterize the Russian penetration as consisting of limited, dismounted sabotage and reconnaissance groups.
• ISW continues to assess that Russian forces do not control the territory east and northeast of Dobropillya where Russian forces recently infiltrated. ISW’s Assessed Russian Advances map layer does not differentiate between enduring Russian positions and limited infiltration missions.
• Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups continue attempts to infiltrate Pokrovsk as Russian forces heavily strike the town.
• The Kremlin is likely using the upcoming Zapad-2025 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises to facilitate its nuclear saber-rattling campaign ahead of the Alaska summit.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in northern Kharkiv Oblast and western Zaporizhia Oblast and near Lyman and Toretsk. Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Toretsk

Daily Kos grunt report for today….

Note….

The Recent Russian ‘Break thru’ Op seems to NOT be sustainable ….