Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be resisting a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, casting doubt over whatever hopes for peace may have been generated by a week of summit diplomacy.That bilateral meeting is supposed to be the next step in a process inaugurated by US President Donald Trump last Friday, when he and Putin met in Alaska.European leaders told Trump in a follow-up meeting in Washington on Monday that if Putin doesn’t cooperate, more sanctions should be imposed on the creaking Russian economy.The week of meetings did nothing to lessen hostilities in Ukraine, where Russia appeared to try to deal a decisive blow to Ukrainian defenders ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, but was instead pushed back from previously captured territory. It also maintained a steady rain of drones and missiles on Ukraine’s cities every day.Ukraine, too, kept up pressure on Russia, continuing a highly successful series of strikes against refineries and oil depots that have deprived Russia of 13 percent of its refining capacity.On the battlefieldA day ahead of the Alaska summit, Russian forces attempted a major push towards Dobropillia, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region that lies just 15km (9 miles) north of Pokrovsk, a target Russia has prioritised since last summer.Ukrainian General Staff …
