As the war in Ukraine grinds into yet another summer, the scale and intensity of Russia’s attacks on civilian and military targets remain staggering. Over August 17 and 18, 2025, Russian forces unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine, striking 25 locations in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Kyiv oblasts, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). These attacks, which included four Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 140 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched from multiple Russian and occupied territories, have left a trail of destruction, death, and mounting international concern.
Kharkiv Oblast, a frequent target in recent months, bore the brunt of these strikes. Oleh Syneihubov, governor of the region, reported that Russian forces attacked 16 settlements with three guided bombs and 16 attack drones, injuring six people. The victims included a 43-year-old man, a 5-year-old child, and a 70-year-old woman in Ruska Lozova, as well as a 35-year-old woman, an 8-year-old boy, and a 2.5-year-old girl in Peremoha village. In Volokhivka, a 19-year-old man was injured by an explosive object, while a 46-year-old woman in Vilshany sought medical help following an earlier attack. The toll is grim: 48 injured and 12 killed, including two children, over the course of the recent escalation, as reported by Gwara Media.
Destruction of civilian infrastructure has become a daily reality. Russian attacks destroyed or damaged 11 houses, two farm buildings, a hangar, a cafe, and five cars across the Kharkiv, Kupiansk, Chuhuiv, Bohodukhiv, and Lozova districts. In Kharkiv City itself, Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that missiles and drones damaged vital infrastructure, killing seven civilians and injuring 18. The violence reached a heartbreaking peak when a 1.5-year-old girl and her entire family were killed in a drone strike on the Industrialnyi district. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump, emphasized, “We are living under constant attack. Many children have been wounded, and a 1.5-year-old child has been killed. We need to stop this war and stop Russia. We need the support of our American and European partners. We support President Trump’s idea of ending this war through diplomatic means. We are ready for trilateral meetings.”
Zaporizhzhia City also suffered, with Russian missile strikes killing three and injuring 20. In Odesa, a strike hit an Azerbaijani energy facility, further highlighting the indiscriminate nature of the attacks. Despite Ukrainian air defenses intercepting 88 Shahed drones and decoys, the sheer volume of Russian strikes continues to cause significant civilian casualties and damage, underscoring the urgent need for a durable peace.
Against this backdrop of violence, diplomatic efforts have intensified. On August 18, a high-stakes multilateral summit convened in Washington, D.C., drawing together U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a host of European leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian President Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. The agenda was ambitious: to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and explore pathways to peace, possibly through bilateral or trilateral meetings involving Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump announced after the summit that he had called President Putin and begun arranging a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, with a trilateral meeting to follow. However, as ISW noted, the Kremlin did not publicly commit to any leader-level meetings. Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov remarked only that Putin and Trump “expressed support for the continuation of direct negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine” and that it “would be necessary to study the possibility of raising the level of representatives.”
Zelenskyy, for his part, reiterated his readiness to meet Putin unconditionally, stating that Russia had first proposed a bilateral meeting, followed by a trilateral meeting with the United States. He diplomatically sidestepped territorial issues, saying such matters would be left “between [himself] and Putin.” Western leaders at the summit reaffirmed the importance of robust security guarantees for Ukraine, with some advocating for commitments modeled after NATO’s Article 5, which obliges member states to respond collectively to aggression.
Ukraine, seeking to bolster its defense, proposed a deal to purchase $100 billion worth of U.S. weapons—with European financing—should the United States provide security guarantees. Additionally, Ukraine floated a $50 billion proposal to produce drones domestically in partnership with American companies. The Financial Times reported these proposals were shared with European leaders ahead of the summit, though details on the specifics of the deals remain sparse.
Despite these overtures, Russian officials have flatly rejected any scenario involving the deployment of NATO military contingents in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova declared Russia’s “categorical rejection” of “any scenario that envisages the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with the participation of NATO countries.” This stance extends to both formal NATO missions and contingents from individual NATO member states, with Russia threatening to consider any such deployments as legitimate military targets.
Western leaders, including Trump and European officials, have clarified that any peacekeeping forces deployed to Ukraine would not constitute a formal NATO military contingent. Nevertheless, the gap between the rhetoric and reality of security guarantees remains wide, with the U.S. position on its own involvement still ambiguous. Trump stated, “various European countries” would provide the guarantees, while the United States would offer “coordination.”
The summit also addressed the humanitarian crisis, with Trump and Zelenskyy agreeing to work together on an “all-for-all” exchange of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children reportedly kidnapped by Russia. European leaders underscored the need for a ceasefire, with both Merz and Macron supporting a halt to hostilities either ahead of or following a trilateral meeting.
On the ground, the military situation remains fluid and brutal. Russian forces have struggled to exploit their initial infiltration in the Dobropillya direction, with Ukrainian counterattacks recently liberating settlements near Dobropillya. ISW observed that Russian units are “fracturing” under pressure, unable to reinforce or supply their forward elements effectively. Meanwhile, Ukrainian advances have been confirmed in several locations, though Russian troops have also made gains near Lyman, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk.
Economic strains are beginning to bite in Russia’s war effort. According to Russian opposition media outlet Vazhnye Istorii, recruitment rates for the Russian Ministry of Defense have plummeted to a two-year low, and the Kremlin has exceeded its budget allocation for enlistment bonuses. To compensate, Russian officials are shifting the financial burden to regional budgets and offering incentives to foreigners, a move ISW interprets as a sign of Russia’s “finite national wealth” and the unsustainability of its recruitment drive without further sacrifices elsewhere.
As the fighting rages on, with Russia occupying 0.968% of Ukrainian territories since the November 2022 counteroffensive, the prospect of a negotiated peace remains elusive. The stakes—for Ukraine, for Russia, and for the broader international community—could hardly be higher. The coming weeks will test whether diplomacy can gain traction amid the relentless violence, or whether the war’s tragic toll on civilians will only continue to mount.
