The Institute for the Study of War reported 8 August that surrendering remaining territories in Donetsk Oblast as a ceasefire prerequisite without securing a final peace agreement would grant Russian forces tactical advantages for future military operations.

“The surrender of the rest of Donetsk Oblast as the prerequisite of a ceasefire with no commitment to a final peace settlement ending the war would position Russian forces extremely well to renew their attacks on much more favorable terms, having avoided a long and bloody struggle for the ground,” the ISW analysed.

Such concessions would compel Ukraine to abandon what the institute terms its “fortress belt” — the primary fortified defensive line established in Donetsk Oblast in 2014. The ISW emphasizes that “conceding such a demand would force Ukraine to abandon its ‘fortress belt,’ the main fortified defensive line in Donetsk Oblast since 2014 — with no guarantee that fighting will not resume.”

The fortress belt consists of four major cities and multiple smaller settlements positioned along the H-20 Kostyantynivka-Sloviansk highway. The defensive line stretches 50 kilometers from north to south — approximately the distance between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland — and housed over 380,537 residents before the current war.

Sloviansk and Kramatorsk anchor the northern section of this defensive network, functioning as logistics hubs for Ukrainian military operations throughout Donetsk Oblast. Kramatorsk currently serves as the oblast’s provisional administrative center, replacing Donetsk City, which remains under Russian occupation. The southern portion of the fortress belt includes Druzhkivka, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka.

The defensive infrastructure originated following Ukraine’s 2014 military operations against pro-Russian proxy forces. These forces initially captured Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka in April 2014, but Ukrainian troops regained control by July of that year.

The ISW reports that Ukraine has invested 11 years in strengthening these positions, building “significant defense industrial and defensive infrastructure in and around these cities.” This sustained development effort represents substantial financial and strategic commitments that would be lost under any territorial concession scenario.

The analysis suggests that Russian forces would gain considerable operational advantages by securing these positions without conducting costly urban warfare operations. The fortress belt has served as what the ISW describes as “a major obstacle to the Kremlin’s territorial ambitions in Ukraine over the last 11 years.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the evening of 13 August that Ukrainian forces will not voluntarily withdraw from territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts currently under their control, speaking to journalists three days before a scheduled Alaska meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

“We will not leave Donbas – we cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part – our territories are illegally occupied. For the Russians, Donbas is a bridgehead for a future new offensive. If we leave Donbas of our own free will or under pressure – we will open a third war,” Zelenskyy said, according to Radio Liberty.

The Ukrainian leader challenged potential American positioning on territorial concessions. “Of course, I would like to see America’s position given how it all started – our territory was occupied, Ukrainians are being killed, and after that they tell me: ‘Listen, do you want to stop being killed? You need to leave.’ And what security guarantees? Leave Donetsk oblast?” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said earlier that Kyiv would not recognize any Ukraine-related decisions made at the US-Russia Alaska summit. The Ukrainian president characterized the Trump-Putin meeting as potentially significant only for bilateral US-Russia relations, calling the very fact of the meeting Putin’s “personal victory.”

“It is impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no one will accept this. Therefore, the conversation may be important for their bilateral track, but they cannot decide anything about Ukraine without us. I hope that the US president understands and takes this into account,” Zelenskyy said at the “Youth Here” forum.

In domestic policy developments, Zelenskyy announced he has instructed the government and army to work on lifting travel restrictions for men under 22 years old. “This is a positive, correct story that will help many Ukrainians maintain ties with Ukraine and pursue education in Ukraine,” the president said.

Since Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has maintained martial law and general mobilization. Men aged 18 to 65 cannot leave the country’s territory. Men aged 25 to 60 are subject to mobilization, while men aged 18 to 24 can be called for basic military service, which during martial law lasts three months.

Russia has created a website to sell Ukrainian orphans. The website features faces, descriptions, and filters by eye and hair color, just like in a product database, reveals Mykola Kuleba, founder and head of the organization Save Ukraine.

“Russia has created an online catalog for the ‘sale’ of Ukrainian children,” he says.

According to him, since 2014, Russia has systematically taken children from occupied territories, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea, to various regions of Russia. But now this scheme has transformed into digital child trafficking.

Filters, personal characteristics, and human dignity 

Kuleba reports that the site allows users to “choose” a child by appearance.

“You can literally select a child by photo, with uncovered faces. They describe the children like products: ‘obedient’, ‘calm’, and so on,” he says.

He emphasizes the disturbing ability to sort children by gender, eye color, and hair color, calling the process nearly indistinguishable from slave trading.

Evidence found on official Russian websites

“Most of the children in this catalog were born before the occupation of Luhansk and had Ukrainian citizenship. Some of their parents were killed by the occupying authorities. Others were simply issued Russian documents to legalize their abduction,” Kuleba explaines.

He highlights the absurdity of Russia’s actions. 

“When Russians demand lists of abducted Ukrainian children during negotiations, they could simply hand over the database from their own Luhansk ‘Ministry of Education’ website. The entire evidentiary base of their crimes is right there on their official resources,” he continues. 

Kuleba pledges that Save Ukraine will do everything possible to rescue these children and return them to “what matters most — home, family, and country.” 

“Children of War”: 325 photos of Ukrainian children to be shown in Kyiv

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has cynically commented on the war in Ukraine for the first time since US President Donald Trump issued his 10-day ultimatum on Russia. Last week, the American president gave Russia ten days to reach a peaceful settlement, threatening massive sanctions if this does not happen by 8 August, UNIAN reports.

Moscow is ready to wait

During a meeting with the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, Putin spoke positively about the negotiations in Turkiye and the prisoner exchanges, stating that Moscow is “ready to wait” if Kyiv is not prepared for talks.

At the same time, he said the Ukrainian political regime “is not based on the Constitution” and supports prolonged negotiations “without any time limits.”

In June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that the Kremlin used prisoner exchanges as a tool to delay the negotiation process with Ukraine and dodge sanctions. While sending back Ukrainian prisoners of war, beaten and tortured in captivity, Russia does not agree to any other proposition to end the war. 

Ukrainian soldier dies weeks after release from Russian captivity with his organs failing due to torture

Kremlin’s conditions remain the same as last year 

Putin confirmed that Russia’s conditions for ending the war, announced back in summer 2024, remain unchanged.

Last year, he insisted on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Moscow has illegally incorporated these Ukrainian regions into its Constitution. Additionally, Russia demands that Ukraine renounce NATO membership, enshrine a non-nuclear status, and lift sanctions.

Lukashenko says Zelenskyy should ask Putin to negotiate

In talks with propagandists, Putin boasted about the production of the first serial ballistic missile Oreshnik and the Russian army’s offensive along the entire front line.

In 2024, Russia used a Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) missile armed with conventional warheads to strike Dnipro. While MIRV technology has long been associated with nuclear delivery systems, this marked its first use in combat. The scale of the destruction remains unknown. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia targeted industrial facilities and critical infrastructure in Dnipro.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko urged Zelenskyy “to simply sit down at the negotiating table” with Putin and emphasized that Minsk and Moscow will not kneel because they decisively defend their interests.

A midday explosion in the center of Russian-occupied Luhansk killed Manolis Pilavov, the city's former Russian-installed mayor, Russian state news agency TASS reported on July 3.

Pilavov headed the occupation administration of Luhansk city from December 2014 until stepping down in November 2023. He had been wanted in Ukraine since 2015 on charges including attempting to violently overthrow the constitutional order and violating Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The blast occurred around noon local time, according to TASS. Three people were reportedly injured, one of them in serious condition.

Ukraine has not commented on Pilavov's reported death. Explosions targeting collaborators and occupation officials have become more frequent in recent months.

Pilavov, born in 1964, held several posts in the local Luhansk administration before Russia occupied parts of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk Oblast in 2014.  

He served as a city council member representing the now-banned pro-Russian Party of Regions and later actively supported the local Russian occupation administration.

Ukrainian authorities say Pilavov participated in separatist propaganda events and encouraged support for Moscow's proxy occupation structures shortly after Russian-backed militants took control of parts of Luhansk Oblast in 2014.

Luhansk remains under Russian occupation, with its city center and government institutions controlled by Kremlin-installed proxies.

BREAKING: Deputy commander of Russian Navy killed in Ukrainian strike in Kursk, Russian official confirms

Major General Mikhail Gudkov also led a brigade involved in combat operations against Ukraine. His death reportedly occurred during a Ukrainian attack on a Russian command post.

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir