Russia continues deadly Ukraine attacks despite Trump-Putin peace talks

Russia is not back away from attacking Ukraine and hitting it with missiles and drones on Thursday – just weeks after President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ancorag, Alaska, in an attempt to advance in a peace deal.

The attack can be Putin’s reference to use diplomacy to buy more time to push its goals and continue to attack Ukraine, while avoiding the secondary sanctions that the Trump administration threatened to impose, according to experts.

It is time to act now, according to Deputy Don Bacon, R-NB. , Chairman of the Sub -Committee, the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives on electronic issues.

“Putin connects President Trump and the additional time helps Russia to continue the bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities,” Pacon said in a statement on Friday to Fox News. “The more Trump refuses to impose secondary sanctions against Russia and send high -end weapons to Ukraine, the more it appears to be a Putin. It is time for Trump to have moral clarity and come strongly to help democracy that is being attacked by Russian bullying.”

Russia launches the largest attack on Ukraine this month after Trump’s meetings with Putin, Zelinski

Bacon, retired dean of the Air Force, who is not seeking to re -election in 2026, said that discussions with Putin have proven to be useless and indicated that Putin is not serious about a deal.

“We have seen zero conversations as much as Putin was ready to settle,” said Bacon. “Although I believe that the request for negotiations was worth at first, he showed that Putin did not want peace.”

The White House confirmed that Trump has made more progress within two weeks to resolve the conflict more than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, in more than three years, and referred to Trump’s meetings with Putin and Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski within days of each other.

“The national security team Trump continues to engage with Russian and Ukrainian officials at a bilateral meeting to stop killing and end the war,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement on Friday to Fox News.

Trump announced on July 14 that he will sign a “severe tariff” against Russia if Moscow fails to agree on a peace agreement within 50 days. Then he dramatically reduced the deadline to 10-12 days – which ended on August 8. But instead of setting additional sanctions against Russia, Trump met Putin a week later in Alaska and praised the meeting with great success.

However, the progress caused by the meeting appears limited. Russia did not agree to the ceasefire, and while Trump initially said that a triple meeting with both Putin and Zellinski was in business, Russia showed that there was no lack of such a meeting.

Russian drone strikes kill 7 in Kharkiv during the White House meeting Zelinski with Trump

President Donald Trump, to the right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the left, when he reaches an Elmendorf-Richards 15 August 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with NBC News on August 22 that no meeting was determined and that Putin would only approve one if some conditions were approved in advance. This is not the case, he said.

“Putin is ready to meet Zellinski when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” said Lavrov.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a huge attack hiding nearly 600 drones against Kiev on Thursday, killing more than 20 people. In response, the United Nations Security Council set an emergency meeting on Friday, according to Ukraine and many other European allies.

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Michael McFul, a former American ambassador to Russia during the administration of former President Barack Obama, said in a position on the position of X that Putin had escalated attacks against Ukraine only after Alaska’s meeting, and Putin said, “He publicly mocks Trump.”

“I hope that Mr. Trump and his team understand how Putin spit on their faces,” said on Thursday’s employee on X.

In addition, Putin is on the fact that he can overcome economic consequences, and will not seriously negotiate an agreement unless it was, according to Stephen Bever, who previously held the US ambassador to Ukraine during the administration of former President Bill Clinton.

“I think, in fact, it is connecting the president,” Bever told Fox News Digital. “Putin still believes that he is able to achieve his goals, in the face of Ukraine, in the battlefield. We will not see a dangerous attempt to negotiate by the Russians until Putin becomes convinced that he cannot win the battlefield, and that continuing to try will only mean a greater, largest-first and most important cost, many dead Russian soldiers.”

Trump and Putin’s relationship turns into acid when the president presses the decision with Ukraine

President Donald Trump, the right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, holds a meeting at the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson August 15, 2025, in Ancorag, Alaska. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“I don’t really see any serious steps taken by the administration to inflict any penalty for Putin,” Bever said. “I think Putin discovered that, and that Putin is exposed to this idea, he will continue to miss the deadlines.”

Historically, Russia’s demands for obtaining a peace agreement included Ukraine from joining NATO from ever, as well as concessions on some of the borders that were previously Ukraine.

Petin Rove, an older colleague and director of the European Center and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute’s research center, said that because Putin knows that the United States is keen to end the war, the requirements of the Putin peace deal is an attempt to raise heat on Ukraine.

After Trump’s meeting with Putin and before his meeting days after his meeting with Zelinski, the American president put the responsibility of Ukraine to end the war – and said that Ukraine could end the war immediately if it agrees to waive the Crimea in Russia, and give up its attempt to membership.

Ukrainian President Foludmir Zelinski and President Donald Trump will participate in a meeting at the White House oval office in Washington, August 18, 2025. (Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Putin was able to avoid US sanctions in Alaska while regaining the content in Ukraine,” said Raif Riv News on Monday. “But he also realizes that the United States wants to end this war, so he made a proposal aimed at attracting Washington in the hope that the United States will put pressure on Ukraine to accept its conditions. If it can divide the alliance across the Atlantic along the way, at least.

John Hardy, deputy director of the Russian Program at the Defense Democrats Foundation, said that Putin is not interested in agreeing to a deal unless its conditions are included in it. Meanwhile, Putin is used diplomacy to avoid economic consequences, Hardy said.

“I think Putin wants a deal – but only if it is on his terms,” ​​Hardy told Fox News Digital Monday. “Until this happens, it bends to continue the war, and Russia seeks to use diplomacy to thwart the most striking American economic pressure and to redirect Trump’s anger from Moscow to Kiev.”