Service members of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stand next to a BTR-4 armoured personnel carrier during military exercises at a training ground, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Small bands of Russian soldiers thrust deeper into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday before a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, which European leaders fear could end in peace terms imposed on an unlawfully shrunken Ukraine.
In one of the most extensive incursions so far this year, Russian troops advanced near the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, part of Putin's campaign to take full control of Ukraine's Donetsk region. Ukraine's military dispatched reserve troops, saying they were in difficult combat against Russian soldiers.
