Ukraine President Volydymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels, Belgium, August 17, 2025 (Times News)
Sunday’s Coverage: Trump Officials Blame Europe for Putin Refusal of Ceasefire
UPDATE 1650 GMT:
Germany has pushed back European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s remarks on deployment of European troops, as part of security guarantees for Ukraine, as “premature”.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said:
Those are things that you don’t discuss before you sit down at the negotiating table with many parties that have a say in the matter.
I would know better than to comment or confirm such considerations in any way, apart from the fact that the European Union has no mandate or competency whatsoever when it comes to positioning troops.
UPDATE 1544 GMT:
China’s Heihe Rural Commercial Bank has stopped accepting payments from Russia after European Union sanctions.
Heihe, a small rural lender, was one of the last Chinese banks willing to process transactions for Russian non-sanctioned credit organizations after larger Chinese banks cut off services. Many Russian small and medium-sized businesses had shifted to Heihe.
The EU sanctioned Heihe on July 18 for providing crypto-asset services that helper Russia bypass sanctions. The measures took effect on August 9, barring EU entities from engaging with the bank.
UPDATE 1208 GMT:
Russia is suspected of interfering with the plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, forcing it to use paper maps as it approached the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
An official said, “The whole airport area GPS went dark,” prompting the pilot to circle for an hour.
Russia has been using GPS jamming through eastern Europe, particularly over the Baltic Sea, during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà said:
We are, of course, aware and used to somehow to the threats and intimidations that are regular component of Russia’s hostile behavior.
Of course, this will only reinforce even further our unshakable commitment to ramp up defense capabilities and support for Ukraine.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis said, “To address such concerns, another summit of the Coalition of the Concerned must be scheduled in the coming days and weeks.”
UPDATE 1155 GMT:
Speaking in Lithuania, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has assured that European Union members with a direct border with Russia and Belarus will receive additional funding.
Von der Leyen reiterated that the EU is working on security guarantees for “a strong, well-equipped, and experienced” Ukrainian army” supported by “a multinational group from the Coalition of the Willing with the backstop of the Americans”.
UPDATE 0905 GMT:
At least four civilians have been murdered and 27 injured by Russian strikes across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
Air defenses intercepted 76 of 86 drones. The other 10 hit six locations.
In the Donetsk region in the east, two people were killed and eight wounded. In the neighboring Kharkiv region, one civilian was slain and three injured.
In the Kherson region in the south, one civilian was killed and 13 wounded. Four apartment buildings and 14 houses were damaged.
Casualties were also reported in the Sumy and Zaporizhia regions.
UPDATE 0759 GMT:
Ukraine has destroyed two Russian Mi-8 helicopters and a tugboat in occupied Crimea, reported the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR.
Drones struck the Hvardiiske military airbase, around 13 km (8 miles) from Simferopol, and the tugboat in Sevastopol Bay.
“Demilitarization of temporarily occupied Crimea continues,” the HUR said.
UPDATE 0608 GMT:
Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Beijing, Vladimir Putin has pushed the falsehood that NATO and Ukraine are responsible for Russia’s 42-month full-scale invasion.
Putin is seeking images of support for his assault through photo opportunities with leaders such as China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi.
In his address, he proclaimed that Ukraine’s 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, which led to the flight of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was a Western-backed “coup”.
He offered little detail on the state of the invasion. The outcomes from his August 15 meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska will be discussed during bilateral meetings, he said.
Without referring to Russia’s invasion, Xi said, “The security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging,” urging them to “oppose cold war mentality, bloc confrontation, and bullying”.
“We must uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core and support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core,” he declared.
UPDATE 0532 GMT:
Ukraine authorities have detained a suspect in the fatal shooting of former Parliament Speaker Andrii Parubii.
“The suspect has given an initial testimony. Urgent investigative actions are currently underway to establish all the circumstances of this murder,” said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Parubii, 54, was murdered in Lviv in western Ukraine on Saturday. He was shot eight times by an assailant with a short-barreled firearm.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the suspect was apprehended in the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Providing security guarantees for Ukraine, European countries are drawing up plans for troop deployment with US support.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times of the “pretty precise plans” for “a multinational troop [deployment] and the backstop of the Americans”:
Security guarantees are paramount and absolutely crucial. We have a clear road map and we had an agreement in the White House…and this work is going forward very well….
President Trump reassured us that there will be [an] American presence as part of the backstop. That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.
The deployment could involved potentially tens of thousands of European-led troops, supported by American command and control systems and intelligence and surveillance assets.
European leaders will convene in Paris on Thursday to continue discussions, said “three diplomats briefed on the plans”.
The arrangement was reportedly agreed two weeks ago at the meeting between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, seven European leaders, and Donald Trump in the White House. That discussion was held only three days after Trump hosted Vladimir Putin in Alaska, withdrawing the priority of a Russian ceasefire and the threat of toughened American sanctions on Moscow and its trading partners.
The Zelensky-European visit was followed by virtual meetings among senior US, Ukrainian, and European military officials. The discussion was overseen by the US Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine.
The Trump Administration appears to be divided over support for Ukraine and Europe. While some are involved in the consideration of security guarantees, others are criticizing the Europeans in remarks to media outlets.
Unnamed “senior White House officials” claimed Administration impatience with European leaders pushing Kyiv to hold out for a “better deal”. One of them snapped:
The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost.
If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Another said Donald Trump is considering a step back from diplomatic efforts until one or both sides demonstrates greater flexibility.
